The Silver Slifer Chronicles
by Xenonstar
Summary: With people like Jaden, Alexis, and Atticus around, school life for Duel Academy's newest student, Alistair Rhein, is kicked into high gear. Follow the Silver Slifer as he duels, studies, and clings to his sanity. Hiatus now broken. Huzzah!
1. Welcome to Duel Academy

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 1 – WELCOME TO DUEL ACADEMY_**

I stared at the paper in my hands with dark amber eyes and raised an eyebrow. The teacher, a creepy blond-haired man with lipstick (you heard correctly) who went by the name of Dr. Crowler grinned as I put my Duel Academy entry exam down, a perfect score. A stocky bald man wearing red was also beaming down at me, and to be perfectly honest, it was pretty uncomfortable.

My name's Alistair. Alistair Rhein. My parents called me a Duel Monsters prodigy, but I had never really put much thought into a career surrounding a simple card game. They set up an entry exam date for me right after my seventeenth birthday. The field test was a breeze… poor Crowler succumbed in a mere two turns to my deck, themed around the Chaos Sorcerer. The written test didn't pose much of a challenge either, although I had always been a good test taker since my days in elementary school. Still, I never expected a perfect score.

"So I guess I've been accepted," I said to break the silence, giving an indifferent shrug. Chancellor Sheppard (the bald guy) laughed heartily, the way you'd expect someone of his stature to laugh.

"No one's ever earned a perfect score on the entry exam since Zane Truesdale!" he chuckled with delight. I swept my white hair out of my eyes and looked back down at my exam. I had said to myself previously that I wanted to enjoy my time at Duel Academy if I were to be accepted, and now it sounded like Sheppard was ready to graduate me on the spot.

"However," Crowler chimed in. I shut my eyes. His voice made me want to retch. Even listening to him talk wouldn't help someone determine his gender. "Like all new students, you'll have to start off in the Slifer Red dorm and work your way up! Perhaps your work ethic can teach those slackers a thing or two!"

Ah, the Slifer Red dorm. I'd heard endless stories of its horrors. The bugs, the rats, the shoddy upkeep. Not like I was going to complain. Hell, I hardly sleep anyway.

"I have no objections," I replied. I snatched my exam paper off the desk, folded it into quarters, and slipped it into my pocket. "So when do I get my uniform?"

"I'll take you down to get measured," Sheppard answered with a nod. "But it might not be worth the time, you could be in Obelisk Blue by the end of the first week!" After another jolly bout of laughter, he led me to another section of the academy, where the tailoring was done, I assumed. I was measured, fitted, and walked out with my very own Slifer Red blazer and other school appropriate garments, which personally didn't appease to me at all.

"Chancellor," I asked while inspecting the outfit, "would it be against academy policy if I were to… modify my uniform?"

"Well… I suppose adding your own personal flair to it couldn't hurt!" came his strangely enthusiastic response. "As long as it doesn't conflict with the dress code, of course."

The fact that he had to think about his answer made me wonder if this academy even HAD a dress code. I nodded in understanding and folded up my new clothes. As we headed back to his office for the inevitable paperwork that had to be done, my eyes silently scanned each hallway, taking in each trophy, photograph, or school event poster I noticed. One name in particular seemed to pop up everywhere. Zane Truesdale certainly had a reputation here, even following his graduation.

With the paperwork finished, I was ready to take the next ship home to prepare for the upcoming term. I waited by the pier with my deck in one hand and my school clothes in the other, my luggage resting beside me. I took another look at the island landscape, my eyes coming to a stop on what I deduced to be the Slifer Red dorm. At least it seemed more satisfactory than the rumors led one to believe.

With some time to kill, I took a seat on a nearby bench and laid my uniform on my lap. Reaching into my right pocket, I pulled out a small notepad and pen, and began flipping through my cards. Anywhere I noticed strategical flaws in my cards, I made sure to scribble down ideas for improvement. I tried to imagine myself as my own opponent, scrutinizing my collection, trying to discover the weaknesses of my deck. I had just filled up a fourth page of notes when I heard a horn sound in the distance. I looked up and saw the ship approaching, and quickly pocketed the pad and pen. Sheppard was coming to see me off, apparently. He was facing the ship as well, holding his arms behind him with a bold smile on his face.

"Well, Alistair, have a safe trip! And we'll see you in two weeks for the first day of classes!" he boasted. I couldn't help but grin, anticipation enveloping me. The ship docked and lowered the passenger ramp as I turned to Sheppard and shook his hand.

"Thank you Chancellor," I replied with a nod. "I look forward to it."

I boarded the ship and waved farewell as it departed for the mainland. I decided to drop off my things in my room before enjoying the refreshing scent of sea salt in the mid-summer air. I opened the door to my suite and stretched, setting my luggage by the entryway. Pocketing my deck, I laid out the red Slifer blazer on my bed along with the rest of my soon-to-be uniform and grimaced. There was a lot of work to be done.


	2. The Silver Slifer Arrives

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

Author's Note 2: I haven't seen EVERY episode of the show, so my understanding of the timeline is limited. So to resolve any misunderstanding, the following altercations have been made: 1) Syrus is still in Slifer Red, 2) Prof. Banner is not a pile of dust, 3) Zane has graduated and went pro, but has not gone into "DEATH METAL" mode. More altercations may be made in later chapters, but you'll hear about them in advance.

**_CHAPTER 2 – THE SILVER SLIFER ARRIVES_**

It was the start of my first term, and I could hardly wait to experience the classes that awaited me within the walls of Duel Academy. I stepped off the loading ramp of the ferry and onto the pier, breathing in the refreshing air that awoke my senses. Many students already socializing with their friends gave me perplexed glances, likely due to the slight modifications I had made to my Slifer uniform.

Okay, so it was more like a complete overhaul. I had extended the blazer, giving it the appearance of an overcoat. The exterior was covered in a sleek silver material that gleamed in the morning sunlight, accented with scarlet décor. I added an army insignia on each sleeve – six stripes with a diamond between the third and fourth, representing the rank of First Sergeant my late grandfather attained while serving the U.S. Army. There were some scattered whispers and murmurs that I overheard while approaching the academy, my eyes scanning the surroundings before spotting the Slifer Red dorm. I had planned to go and store my belongings in my room when a brown-haired kid called me out. Turning toward him, I figured he was about two years younger than me, which wasn't surprising since my parents had sent me to take the Academy exam at a rather late age. The boy approached, which was when I saw a short kid with sky-blue hair follow in his tracks. And I thought my white hair was uncommon…

"Hey," he greeted. "Haven't seen you here before! This your first term?"

I nodded in response and held out my hand. "Alistair Rhein, Slifer Red."

"Jaden Yuki!" he introduced himself with a peculiar enthusiasm, accepting my handshake offer. "My pal here is Syrus Truesdale!" I shook hands with Syrus, noting his last name.

"Truesdale, huh?" I commented. "Zane's brother, right?"

"Yeah," Syrus answered, giving me a look of surprise. "You know my big bro?"

I shook my head. "Just heard stories," I said. "He's certainly turned some heads in the Pro League, that's for sure."

"So where ya headed?" Jaden asked me, before I felt something connect forcefully against the side of my head.

"How ya doin' Silver Slifer?" a voice taunted from behind me. Soon I would really grow to dislike Chazz Princeton. I rubbed the back of my now aching head and directed my attention to him, who was now sneering at me.

"Nice to meet you too," I grumbled sarcastically. "…Silver Slifer?"

"Half the academy knows you by it now," he explained with a cocky smirk on his face, the kind that just made me want to give him a good ol' vanilla kick in the teeth. Great, classes haven't even started, and I already have a ridiculous-sounding nickname. I shrugged it off with a "Whatever," and carted my luggage off to the Slifer Red dorm.

"Hey, Alistair, where ya going?" Jaden asked me, deciding to follow. I sighed, wondering if by joining Duel Academy I had thrown away all hope for some peace and quiet.

"I was going to check out my dorm and drop off my things," I told him. "Perhaps work on my deck while I'm at it."

"Listen, don't let Chazz get to you," he assured. "He does this every year, it's just the way he is. Besides, that new uniform looks awesome!"

I laughed, at least somewhat pleased to get the first compliment of the day. On the way to the dorm, I expectedly became the target of some typical name-calling from the Obelisk Blues. What is a Silver Slifer anyway? Is that supposed to be an insult? Whoever came up with it wasn't very creative… Anyway, I'm getting off track.

"Gotta love the Obelisks," I chimed with dripping sarcasm as I reached the dorm entrance. Jaden just laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Don't worry, not all of the Obelisks are that annoying," he defended. I rolled my eyes and opened the door.

"That remains to be seen," I said. "I'll see you later, Jaden. Perhaps we'll have the pleasure of dueling each other sometime soon."

Jaden nodded confidently. "You bet!" he agreed. "But you better bring your game, cause I'm the best duelist here!"

He grinned at his boast, which got a laugh out of me. "That also remains to be seen," I countered as I stepped into the dorm. I heard footsteps on grass behind me, so I figured Jaden had run off to his group of friends. He certainly seemed like an off-the-walls type. I spotted a dark-haired man, the only one in the dorm at the time. He noticed me and gave me a warm smile.

"Ah, you must be a new student!" he exclaimed jovially. "I'm Professor Lyman Banner, head of Slifer Red dorm! Welcome!"

Banner had said a mere seventeen words and I had already concluded that he was just about the happiest person alive. Except for Jaden, perhaps. He went over the dorm policies with me, school rules, yadda, yadda, yadda, before giving my dorm key and room number. I thanked him and set off down the hallway, counting off the room numbers before arriving at mine, Room 164. I unlocked the door and stepped inside, prepared to see just how true the horror stories of Slifer Red were. I looked around and was pleasantly surprised. There was a large bed in the corner of the room, which signified that I wouldn't be bunking with anyone (insert victorious fist pump here), a television, and a connected bathroom. Nothing too fancy, but it fit my needs just right. I dropped off my luggage by the bed and looked out the door, a stack of newspapers catching my attention. I walked over and grabbed one, since they appeared to be free for students. Heading back into my room, I shut the door and laid back on my bed, flipping the paper open to see what the rest of the world was doing while I was secluded on this tiny island.

The blissful peace and quiet I was enjoying was shattered quickly by the sound of footsteps, accompanied by Jaden's overenthusiastic voice. He was chattering excitedly about how many duels he had won today, when another voice cut in.

"Slifers! Gather round!" came Banner's order. I sighed, folded up the newspaper, and headed out of my room and into the lobby (if you could call it that – it looked more like a tiny cafeteria). I took a seat near Jaden, who waved to me before Banner continued his speech.

"As you all know, we have some new students this term," he said, constantly petting the fat cat in his arms. "Come on, first year Slifers! Stand up!"

Banner smiled as I rose from my seat along with about fifteen other students, the remaining Slifers greeting us with friendly applause. Banner then took the time to go over all the school rules (again) and hand out class schedules. Receiving mine, I examined it closely. The scope of classes taught at this academy got a grin out of me, as I realized I had I rather diverse set of courses for the term. From broad areas of study such as "History of Duel Monsters" to more specific, duel-oriented lessons like "Optimizing Fusions". I was about to pocket my schedule and go prepare my deck when it was suddenly snatched out of my hands by, who else, Jaden Yuki.

"Hey, we've got 'Magic and Trap Chains' with Crowler together tomorrow!" he exclaimed. I covered my eyes in annoyance, certainly not looking forward to spending class time with a cross dresser with an annoying voice. Jaden seemed to feel my pain, saying, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I can hardly stay awake in his classes."

I rolled my eyes. No wonder this kid was still a Slifer.

"I'll just have to take the good with the bad, I guess," I said, resigning myself. "Hopefully I won't have to deal with many more Obelisks in that class."

"Crowler's class?" interjected Syrus, who had seemingly appeared from out of nowhere. "There's plenty of Obelisks there… Crowler's the head of their dorm."

It was at that point the thoughts in my mind of enjoying the first term were immediately replaced with hypotheses regarding whether the Slifer dorm walls could withstand a fierce beating from my forehead.

"Oh, but Alexis will be there," the blue-haired kid added quickly before I found a window to jump out of. "She's our friend. She'll keep the Obelisks in line!" I sighed, figuring I should probably wait a week or so and reevaluate before doing anything drastic.

"I hope you're right," I said, getting up from my seat as the Slifers were dismissed from Banner's group meeting. Jaden and Syrus said they would talk to me later and left the dorm, probably to find more dueling opponents. As for myself, I went straight to my dorm room and hopped back onto my bed, drifting back into the sweet embrace of silence once again.


	3. The Queen and the Tournament

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 3 – THE QUEEN AND THE TOURNAMENT_**

I was right. This academy can't possibly have a dress code.

I came to this conclusion shortly after meeting Alexis Rhodes, the so-called Queen of Obelisk Blue. There was a brief window of approximately two and a half seconds when I considered advising her that a skirt that short was probably against school rules, after which I realized ALL the girls donned similar attire. I quickly bit my tongue and remained completely silent about the situation. We met for the first time shortly after Crowler's class on effective use of spell and trap chains. The mere notion of having to listen to that voice for eighty minutes twice a week was enough to make me cringe in horror.

Jaden was a sneaky kid, I noticed, utilizing various techniques in order to sleep in class without getting caught. Needless to say, despite being sneaky, he wasn't very bright. I was shaken from my zoned-out state many a time thanks to the good doctor shouting at Jaden to startle him awake. Having nothing else to do for the time being, I kept a tally of the number of detentions he racked up in that single class. All I really have to say is that Guinness World Records will be getting some mail in the near future.

After experiencing eighty minutes of the seventh layer of hell, I was ready to go test that theory of head-and-wall Polymerization when a voice interrupted my retreat through the crowd of students.

"So you're the Silver Slifer, huh?"

I turned my head toward the one who had used that stupid nickname, coming face-to-face with the Obelisk Queen herself.

"People who actually know me tend to call me Alistair Rhein, you know," I answered, rolling my eyes. Damn Obelisks. Alexis seemed to regret her decision to call me the "Silver Slifer", and rightly so.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I actually thought it was a cool name." I raised an eyebrow at that remark, not sure whether to feel complimented or annoyed.

"You're Alexis, aren't you?" I questioned. "You were mentioned when I talked to Jaden and Syrus the other day."

"You met those two already?" she asked me. I nodded and walked out of the classroom, Alexis following me.

"Hey! Alexis! Alistair!" came a familiar voice from down the hall. Jaden and Syrus were coming down to meet us, another two students with them. These two appeared to be in Ra Yellow, telling from the color of their blazers.

"Ah, the Silver Slifer," the Ra with neat combed-back hair said with a smile. "You've really gotten a reputation around the school already, and without even dueling yet." I silently vowed in my head that I would destroy the one who crafted that awful moniker. He introduced himself as Bastion Misawa, a likable fellow who had the same thirst for knowledge as I had. He, however, was more gifted than I in the department of tolerating Crowler's voice. The other Ra was Tyranno Hassleberry, an aggressive type with an obvious affinity with dinosaurs. Our conversation continued for a few moments when an interruption came in the form of an announcement.

"Attention Duel Academy students," came Chancellor Sheppard's voice over the PA. "An opening day tournament is being held in the dueling arena at 8 PM this evening! Be sure to sign up and get some experience under your belt for the term ahead, as well as getting to know your fellow students' decks! But you better be quick, because only the first eight entrants will be accepted! If you miss out tonight, you can always sign up for Tuesday's tournament, but remember, all students have a limit of one tournament each week!"

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my deck, wondering if I should head back to my dorm and make any last minute changes I felt were necessary. I realized everyone else was staring at my deck curiously as well, reminding myself that Crowler was the only person in the academy who knew my card theme.

"Hey, what kind of deck do you use, Alistair?" Alexis decided to ask. I merely grinned and slipped the deck back into my pocket, disappointing everyone for the time being.

"You'll just have to find out in tonight's tournament, won't you?" I teased, crossing my arms. "Maybe one of you will get to see its tricks personally in a duel against me."

I turned away from them and headed toward the doorway.

"I'm going back to my room, to make a few changes," I told them. "I'll see you at the arena tonight."

We bid our farewells and I trekked back to the Slifer Red dorm, slipping silently into my room and drawing the curtains, not wanting any spies. From under my bed, I pulled out one of the pieces of luggage I had brought to the island with me, a wide silver suitcase. I unlocked it and flipped it open, revealing an impressive array of monsters, spells, and traps, different combinations for different opposing decks. Recalling the academy rules, I was permitted a side deck of 15 cards, so I set to work in preparing one that would be of the most use to me in the tournament. I took into consideration the personality of everyone I had met so far, and poured all my thought and calculation into my cards. It was nearly five o'clock when I felt finished, so I locked up the suitcase and slid it back under the bed. I shuffled my original 40-card deck and pocketed it, adding the fifteen cards of my side deck into my other pocket. The sun was beginning to set, so I quickly tidied up and left the dorm, proceeding to the duel arena. I enjoyed the calm that the evening air provided as I made my way, until a truly unusual sound struck my senses. Call me crazy, but I swore I just heard someone behind me playing the ukulele.


	4. Atticus's Wager

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 4 – ATTICUS'S WAGER_**

The strumming of a ukulele diverted my attention, forcing me to turn around. What I ended up seeing… well, it was just plain STRANGE. A kid about as old as me was completely decked out in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, a blissful smile across his face as he happily played his instrument, faintly dancing to the melody. He seemed unaware of my presence, so I made it known by coughing rather loudly, snapping him out of his reverie.

"Was there a luau I missed or something?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow. He merely grinned sheepishly and stuck out his hand.

"Hey, the Silver Slifer!" he laughed. "Atticus Rhodes! I've heard about you!"

I blinked a couple times in confusion while shaking his hand and clearly stating to him that my name was Alistair Rhein, and not "The Silver Slifer". I began wondering if I even wanted to know what rumors about me were being tossed around. "Heard about me?" I opted to inquire, scratching the back of my head. "Dare I ask what you've heard?"

The smile that lit up Atticus's face was enough to tell me that I wasn't going to be particularly ecstatic over his answer. I was left defenseless as he replied with, "You've gotten pretty popular with the ladies."

Now, I never believed it was possible that someone could choke on air, but from that day forward I made sure to never question its plausibility again. After reopening my trachea and sputtering a few times in complete and utter shock, I managed to cough out a raspy, "What??"

"You heard me!" he laughed, patting me on the back as if I had just been named the new King of Games. "It's probably the white hair. Girls love that for some reason."

If I could have gotten a glance of my own face at that moment, I assumed that I probably would have looked like I had seen a ghost. Thoughts of being hunted down by hordes of ravenous fangirls plagued my mind, threatening to drive me insane.

"This… is not good," was all I was capable of saying. Atticus appeared baffled.

"Hey, don't worry about it," he assured. "I love the devotion my fans give me, but if you need some help warding them off, I got an idea for you."

He then whispered something in my ear. My mind was still trying to purge itself of those horrific scenarios, so all I picked up were the words "Alexis", "sister", and "boyfriend". In seconds I had put the pieces together.

"Wait, hang on a second," I interjected, holding up my hand. "I just met her THIS AFTERNOON. And you want me to DATE her?"

"Hey, poor Lexi needs some serious help with her love life!" Atticus insisted. "One of these days she's gonna thank me."

"Either that or break your jaw," I countered, crossing my arms. "Out of the question, I couldn't possibly date her after knowing her for mere hours. And interfering with your sister's love life somehow doesn't strike me as the best idea in the world." I began to continue toward the duel arena, but Atticus made it a point to get the last word.

"Well if you're signing up for the tournament, how about we duel for it?" he offered with a grin. I shot him a skeptical glance. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see!" he laughed before running off to the arena. I checked my watch, realizing I only had 5 more minutes before sign-ups opened. Those tournament slots could be filled by 5:01. Quickening my pace, I eventually bursted through the doors, the bright light of the dueling arena temporarily blinding me. I shielded my eyes and squinted as I strained to look around. When my eyes finally adjusted to the lighting change, I could see a line of seven people waiting at the sign-up table. I couldn't believe the odds that I knew all seven. Jaden, Bastion, Syrus, Alexis, Chazz, Tyranno, and Atticus. I stepped into line and caught my breath, and the eight of us all claimed our slots for the tournament. Just as Atticus had planned, I had the pleasure of facing him in the Quarterfinals. I sighed as I quickly signed my name in the final space in the tourney bracket, and received my dueling device.

"Glad to see you made it!" Jaden called. "So we're finally gonna see if you can throw down with the rest of us!" I laughed, silently wondering where Jaden managed to find so much energy when just an hour ago I saw him nearly fall into a coma during Crowler's class. The kid was truly an enigma to me.

"We've got three hours to prepare for the tournament," Alexis said, checking out the schedule. "Looks like you and I get to duel second, Sy."

Syrus looked up, having been looking through his deck quietly.

"What? I'm facing you, Alexis?" he asked, somewhat shocked. "Oh boy… this is gonna be harder than I thought!"

The official tournament bracket was mounted onto each side of the dueling ring. It was then I noticed just how enormous the arena was. Looking around, I figured there were nearly eight thousand seats surrounding the stage, all of which would be filled with the red, yellow, and blue blazers of Duel Academy's students. I gripped my deck, which was sitting in my right pocket, and glanced over at Atticus, who still had that same grin on his face. I could tell that he had something planned, and that I probably wasn't going to like it. As long as I defeated him, though, I would be free of him at least for a little while longer. Somehow while I was zoned out, the conversation had turned to Zane and how he was fairing in the Pro League.

"By the way, did you fellas hear?" Tyranno cut in. "One of the first year kids got a perfect score on the entrance exam! First time it's happened since Zane came here!"

I snapped out of my thoughts just in time for Jaden to ask me, "Hey Alistair, you're a first year, you wouldn't happen to know who got that perfect score, would you?"

I hesitated and scratched the back of my head, unsure how to answer.

"…Actually, I do know," I eventually responded. "…It was me." The laughter from Jaden made it clear that he didn't take me seriously. The others were merely silent.

"Yeah right, Alistair!" he laughed. "If you got a perfect score, than what the heck are you doing in Slifer?" I furrowed my brow, baffled by Jaden's comment. Everyone started out in Slifer their first year… didn't they?

"I thought everyone started in Slifer," I said, putting a stop to Jaden's antics.

"No way!" he exclaimed. "If you scored perfectly, Crowler would have put you in Ra Yellow, or maybe even Obelisk Blue!"

"He's right," added Bastion. "Only students who perform poorly on the entrance exam are placed in Slifer, unless there was another reason for doing so."

I thought back to the day I received my exam results, and what Crowler had said to me before I left to get measured for my uniform.

_"Like all new students, you'll have to start off in the Slifer Red dorm and work your way up! Perhaps your work ethic can teach those slackers a thing or two!"_

I narrowed my eyes. Strangely, it made sense. Did Crowler place me in Slifer just so I could be a good influence? Was something like that even allowed? I figured it was all too much to think about for now, and dismissed the thoughts.

"Who knows," I sighed with a shrug. I searched through my pockets and found what I was looking for. I extracted my folded entrance exam from my coat and opened it up, displaying the perfect score.

"There's my proof," I sternly declared. "Satisfied?"

"Weird," was all I heard from Alexis. Or any of them, for that matter. "It's not like Crowler to put a guy with a perfect score in Slifer. Something's got to be up."

I folded the paper back up and slipped it back into my pocket. "Like I said, who knows," I repeated, turning away. "My deck is already built for this tourney, so I'm just going to go keep myself occupied." I departed quickly after waving goodbye, and returned to my room in the Slifer Red dorm. I decided to pass the time with some television and crossword puzzles (after doing the homework for Crowler's class first, of course… I'd hate to have him on my case), surprised that the three-hour hiatus passed without a single interruption.

I returned to the arena, mentally preparing myself for the scrutinizing gaze of thousands of students who were going to be watching the duels, perhaps even making notes about the monsters, combos, and other strategies we were going to use. I had overheard there would be a prize for the winner of the tournament, but that meant less to me than getting to know what I was up against. The sounds of the crowd gradually increased in volume as I drew nearer to the arena doors, and grew louder still as I entered the massive dome and stepped inside.

I quickly and quietly made my way to the nearest empty seat on the floor, and crossed my arms as I realized just how many people were capable of squeezing into this stadium. The tournament was set to begin, and the first matchup was announced.

"Our first quarterfinal match," boomed Chancellor Sheppard over the audio system, "is a match between a Slifer and an Obelisk! But don't expect this duel to be one-sided, both of these kids have tremendous potential, and I expect them to put on a great show! I present to you our first two quarterfinal opponents: Atticus Rhodes of Obelisk Blue, and Alistair Rhein of Slifer Red!"

I had just gotten comfortable in my seat when I was summoned to take part in the first duel of the evening. Just my luck, I suppose. I sighed and got up from my seat. Alexis and Jaden were sitting next to me and wished me luck. I nodded in appreciation and ascended to my position at the left end of the ring, already equipped with my dueling device. Atticus emerged from the tunnel at the other end, and was immediately serenaded with cheers, whistles, and marriage proposals. I removed my deck, the one everyone had been dying to see, from my pocket and gazed at it momentarily. I cut and shuffled exactly three times, as a sort of good luck ritual I used to do since I was five. I didn't care that my deck would officially be shuffled by Atticus anyway. We shook hands, exchanged and shuffled our cards, and returned them before taking our places in the dueling ring.

"Here's the deal!" Atticus shouted, trying to overpower the noise of the crowd. "If I win this duel, you let me hook you up for a date with Lexi!" This certainly took me by surprise. I opened my mouth, but no answer came out of it. Alexis herself was standing immediately.

"Atticus!!" she yelled at him. "Leave me out of this! How many times do I have to tell you I **DON'T **need help with my love life?!"

Atticus ignored her and continued with his proposal. "If YOU win, Alistair, I'll leave you alone, and drop the whole thing. Deal?" Alexis was now staring at me with fiery eyes. I glanced over at her and paused for a moment. The audience was starting to get restless.

"Deal," I finally answered with a smirk. Alexis appeared very upset, although I couldn't blame her.

"ALISTAIR!" she shouted, almost blowing out my right eardrum. I rubbed my right ear in pain and glared at her.

"Ow!" I yelled back. "Geez, don't worry. I can handle this."

Alexis seemed like she was about to continue abusing her vocal cords when Sheppard interrupted at the perfect time.

"Are the duelists ready?" he asked us over the microphone.

I swung my left arm, equipped with the dueling device, across my chest, and it extended into battle position. "I'm ready when you are, Atticus. Just keep your end of the bargain once I'm through with you."

Atticus confidently shifted his device into battle position as well. "You'll be thanking me someday, Alistair! I've already booked a great restaurant for you two!"

I rolled my eyes, and we each drew five cards. The quarterfinals had begun.

_Atticus **4000 ** – Alistair **4000** _

"DUEL!"


	5. The Tournament Begins

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 5 – THE TOURNAMENT BEGINS_**

_Atticus **4000 ** – Alistair **4000 ** _

My first duel at the academy had just begun, and I was up against a rather confident Atticus Rhodes. We each drew five cards for our starting hands, and our Life Points were set at 4000. I looked down at my hand, trying to suppress one heck of a grin from lighting up my face.

"You can go first, Atticus," I offered politely. I figured he wouldn't complain.

"Fine with me," he said with a smirk as he drew a sixth card. "I summon Pitch-Black Warwolf (1600 / 600) in attack mode!"

I blinked as a large black-haired beast with eerie yellow eyes, a sword gripped in its right arm, and a foreboding black aura emanating from its coat of fur. It growled at me menacingly, but unknown to Atticus, I was well aware that I already had my spot in the semifinals secured.

"My Warwolf there has a pretty neat special effect, you know," Atticus explained. "As long as he's on the field, you can't activate any trap cards during our Battle Phases! Now I'll just play a face-down and end my turn! Spotlight's on you, now!"

I grinned and drew a sixth card, adding it to the five already in my hand. It was all but over, and I knew exactly how to orchestrate it. I started with a single face-down card.

"No trap cards during the Battle Phase, huh?" I asked indifferently. "Good thing he won't be around much longer." Atticus widened his eyes in surprise as I played my first card of the game.

"I play the magic card, Change of Heart! Now I can take control of your Warwolf, and use it as a sacrifice to perform a Tribute summon!" At that moment, a red field of light enveloped the Pitch-Black Warwolf and dissolved into thin air, leaving Atticus's front line completely bare.

"By sacrificing that Warwolf, I can introduce you to my Cybernetic Magician (2400 / 1000)!" I announced, summoning the white-cloaked wizard to my side of the field. Atticus still appeared unfazed, probably because his face-down was likely an anti-attack trap. I resolved the issue with another spell.

"I also play Giant Trunade, blowing your face-down card back into your hand!" I continued as a ferocious hurricane-force wind caused Atticus's only card on the field to vanish and reappear in his hand. At this point, he began to show signs of panic. I still, however, had one move left to make.

"Last but not least, Atticus, I use the magic card, Graceful Charity!" I said, displaying the card to him. He gave me a look as if to ask if I would ever end my turn. I smiled, continuing with the effect, "I can now draw three cards from my deck, and then discard any two from my hand."

I did so, adding three cards to my hand to make a total of five. My smile grew brighter, realizing I had drawn what I needed.

"I choose to discard my Skilled Dark Magician and my Mystical Elf, but instead of putting them in the graveyard, I'm going to remove them from the game!" I sternly declared, slipping the two cards into my pocket. I then lifted another card out of my hand, the one that represented my entire deck.

"By removing from my graveyard one Light and one Dark monster, I can summon the one and only Chaos Sorcerer (2300 / 2000)!" I placed the card onto my dueling device in attack position, and watched with the rest of the crowd as the Chaos Sorcerer rose onto the field, cloaked in black and wielding both light and dark energy in his hands.

"Any last words, Atticus?" I asked him with a smile. His mouth was agape, and his voice silent. I took that as a no. "Fine with me. Cybernetic Magician! Chaos Sorcerer! Attack Atticus directly!"

_Atticus **0000 ** – Alistair **4000** _

Atticus was visibly overwhelmed by the magical force of both monsters, and fell to his knees as his Life Points went from 4000 to 0 in seconds. My Cybernetic Magician and Chaos Sorcerer faded and disappeared, and the crowd sympathetically cheered Atticus. Even Alexis, who I had seen breathing a sigh of relief after my victory, went over to help her brother up. I sighed and crossed the dueling ring, and extended my hand. Atticus grinned and shook.

"A deal's a deal," he said reluctantly. "Nice dueling, man." I shook my head, knowing I couldn't possibly accept his compliment.

"It was a lucky draw," I insisted. "We'll have a rematch one of these days."

Atticus laughed and nodded. "You bet, but you know what Max Pegasus used to say… it's better to be lucky than good." Smiling, I gave Atticus a pat on the back and stepped down from the dueling ring to the applause of the crowd. I made my way back to my seat, receiving congratulations and compliments from the other participants. Dropping back into my seat, I heard Chancellor Sheppard announce the next match between Alexis and Syrus. I quietly pulled out my notepad and pen as the clearly nervous blue-haired Slifer ascended onto the dueling ring. Alexis had just ushered her brother off and returned to her position for her Quarterfinal duel.

"The winner of this match will face Alistair Rhein in the semifinals!" Sheppard informed everyone. I glanced over at the bracket where my name had been written into the top slot of the Semifinal round. The crowd cheered loudly as the second Quarterfinal match began, and I made sure to note each monster, spell, and trap used by Alexis and Syrus. Everything from Syrus's use of Roid monsters and spells like Vehicroid Connection Zone to Alexis's Cyber Angel monsters and her Machine Angel Ritual card. I watched as Syrus managed to summon his Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill through his Vehicroid Connection Zone card, but made an unfortunate error when he summoned Jetroid to help it out. Alexis quickly took advantage by summoning her Cyber Blader, which had its attack power doubled to 4200 since Syrus had two monsters on his side of the field. The Vehicroid Jumbo Drill was scrapped, and Syrus was ultimately defeated.

I stood and applauded with the rest of the crowd and Alexis and Syrus shook hands and congratulated each other on a well-played duel. Syrus was understandably upset, but Jaden was there for encouragement as usual. Alexis sat down next to me right after I had slipped the notepad back into my pocket. I couldn't have her knowing that I was studying her every card.

"You're not bad," I commented without looking at her. It was honestly a bit awkward, considering I had just come out of a bet with Atticus regarding a date with her.

"I have to be," she answered. "I'm the Queen of Obelisk Blue, remember?"

"You actually ENJOY having that nickname?" I inquired with a hint of shock.

She just laughed and sighed. "Thanks for putting Atticus in his place," she finally told me.

"If you're trying to sweet talk me into going easy on you in the Semifinals, it won't work," I countered with a grin. Alexis smiled back confidently. "Don't worry, I'm going to beat you anyway."

Our conversation was cut short by Sheppard, calling Chazz and Tyranno to the dueling ring for the third Quarterfinal match. I crossed my arms and observed, just like the other eight thousand students, never tiring of the action.


	6. The Semifinal Duel, Part 1

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

Author's Note (10/5): Wow. Fixed a couple errors in Chapters 6 and 7 regarding my faulty subtraction. Should be fine now.

**_CHAPTER 6 – THE SEMIFINAL DUEL, PART 1_**

Chazz may be a complete jerk, but he sure was a talented duelist. Either that or Tyranno still had a great deal to learn about strategy. While Tyranno relied a bit too much on the brute force of his dinosaur monsters, Chazz was truly impressive, dismantling him quickly with his rather unorthodox combination of Ojamas and machines. It was like Chazz was capable of playing two decks at the same time, and he utilized it to near perfection. Spells like Ojama Delta Hurricane and Frontline Base simply overwhelmed Tyranno's side of the field, scoring Chazz a trip to the Semifinals. I applauded their efforts, truly impressed with Chazz's ability. He was to face the winner of the duel between Jaden and Bastion, which was the next duel to be played, so Chazz stepped down from the dueling ring, pointed to the sky, and grinned as the audience started his "CHAZZ IT UP" chant.

I leaned back in my chair lazily, wanting to get up there again and face Alexis. After studying her choice of monsters, I had assembled a quick gameplan in my mind. While Jaden was laying the smackdown on Bastion with his Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, I was switching a few cards between my deck and side deck, in preparation for my Semifinal match against Alexis.

A round of cheering caught my attention, and I looked up to see that Jaden had been the victor. I looked over toward Chazz, who was now grimacing and mumbling something about "beating down that slacker". I made my final changes to my deck and stood up with the rest of the tournament participants to congratulate Jaden on his berth in the next round.

"Well you've certainly performed better than an average duelist would with an Elemental Hero deck," I complimented him. Jaden just grinned confidently.

"That's why I'm the best duelist here, duh!" he laughed as Chancellor Sheppard announced the start of the tournament semifinals. Once again, I was to be in the first duel of the round.

"The Semifinals of this opening day tournament is about to begin!" Sheppard bellowed proudly. "We have another exciting matchup between an Obelisk and Slifer: hoping to avenge the defeat of her brother is the Queen of Obelisk Blue, Alexis Rhodes!"

The crowd cheered loudly as Alexis stepped up into the dueling ring, getting a number of whistles from the boys in attendance. Sheppard continued his introductions.

"Hoping to go two-for-two at Duel Academy, following an amazing one-turn victory over Atticus Rhodes, Alexis's opponent is the Silver Slifer, Alistair Rhein!"

Damn it all to hell. Now even the CHANCELLOR was calling me the Silver Slifer. I had a feeling it was going to be a long year. I ascended the stairs onto the stage, stepping into the dueling ring and studying Alexis's expression. Her casual friendliness was gone, and her beautiful smile was wiped off her face.

…Wait, did I just say that?

Anyway, her demeanor now was like a completely different person. She had become determined, stern, and calculating – like nothing would dare separate her and victory. I, of course, had other plans. I heard more whistling from the crowd, and soon realized that the GIRLS were now whistling. The fangirl stampede replayed again and again in my mind, threatening to throw off my game. I shook my head and met Alexis in the center of the arena as we exchanged and shuffled each other's deck. We shook hands and returned to our positions as the teachers watched with great interest from the first two rows of seats.

"Seems you're next on my hit list," I joked. "Going to last longer than your brother?"

"I think you should be asking YOURSELF that," Alexis shot back, surprising me. I grinned and chuckled as she switched her dueling device into battle position.

"Well, well," I teased. "Someone's feisty today." Alexis just glared at me harshly as I too readied my dueling device. "Shall we?"

I saw a faint smirk appear on her lips as she nodded. "Let's."

"DUEL!"

_Alexis **4000 ** – Alistair **4000 ** _

We each drew five cards as our Semifinal match commenced, the crowd cheering on whichever duelist they wanted to win.

"Ladies first," I said delicately. Alexis didn't hesitate to accept, and drew a sixth card as I looked on. She took a moment to examine her hand, likely formulating a strategy to prevent the one-turn kill I had executed against her brother mere minutes ago. I guess she really didn't believe me when I claimed it was a lucky draw.

"I start by summoning my Etoile Cyber (1200 / 1600) in attack mode!" Alexis declared, placing a monster card from her hand onto the dueling device. I watched as a female humanoid monster materialized on Alexis's side of the field, donning a red jumpsuit and blue ribbons that circled her arms. Having seen that monster once before, I had a faint idea what she was about to do, but unknown to her, I would be prepared.

"I'll also lay two cards face down for later," she added as two face-down holographic cards shined and appeared into view between Alexis and her monster. "Your turn, Alistair."

I drew the top card of my deck and glanced at it. It wasn't anything ground-breaking, but certainly useful.

"I'll play one face-down, and then call Breaker the Magical Warrior (1600 / 1000) to the field!" I countered, as another humanoid appeared on the field, this one on my side and wearing dark red and gold armor with embedded blue crystals, carrying a sword and shield. Shortly afterward, my set trap card appeared face-down behind it. "And now I activate Breaker's ability, allowing me to destroy one spell or trap card on the field!"

Before Alexis could even flinch, Breaker slashed his sword through the air, creating a wave of energy that flipped up the trap card on her left and shattered it into pieces. I immediately recognized it as the trap card Hallowed Life Barrier, which was serving as her defense.

"Now, Breaker, attack that Etoile Cyber!" I then shouted. Breaker obeyed and charged at the monster on Alexis's side of the field, until she revealed her other face-down card.

"I play a trap card! Doble Passe!" she countered, as the Etoile Cyber quickly evaded the attack. Instead, Breaker's attack was inflicted onto Alexis directly, causing her to shout with pain as her Life Points were whittled down to 2400. I raised an eyebrow, pretending to be confused.

_Alexis **2400 ** – Alistair ** 4000** _

"Double Passe allows me to take your monster's attack instead of my Etoile Cyber, and now in return, she can attack you directly!" Alexis explained triumphantly. "And when she attacks directly, her attack points increase by 500! Etoile Cyber! Attack Alistair directly!"

A perfect prediction.

"I activate my face-down card, Dimension Wall!" I exclaimed, getting a look of surprise from Alexis as a translucent wall of energy erupted in front of each of us.

"With this trap, any battle damage dealt to me from your attack is instead transferred to you!" I exclaimed, getting a look of surprise from Alexis as my flipped up trap card began to emanate waves of energy that formed a translucent wall in front of me. The Etoile Cyber slammed into the wall, triggering a response that created a new wall behind Alexis and blasted her with an equivalent force. I was impressed with her valiance as she determinedly recollected herself after her Life Points again plummeted, leaving her with just 700.

_Alexis **0700 ** – Alistair **4000** _

"I think I'll just play a face-down card to finish up, and give you a little breather," I concluded merrily, another set card appearing on my side of the field. The crowd was murmuring in wonder, many of them still giving me strange looks.

"Fine," Alexis shot. "My draw."

Alexis drew a card, glanced at it, and immediately played it.

"I activate my Graceful Charity spell card, which lets me draw three, and discard two!" she told me sternly, doing exactly that. "Next I play Fusion Recovery, which returns my Blade Skater and my Polymerization from my graveyard to my hand… and that allows me to play that Polymerization! I fuse Blade Skater and my Etoile Cyber together to form Cyber Blader (2100 / 800)!"

A futuristic looking girl with blue hair and a red-and-blue jumpsuit was formed by Alexis's fusion, which seemed to be some sort of roller blader. How strange.

"That's not all!" Alexis continued. "I also equip Cyber Blader with a magic card: Fusion Weapon!" The Cyber Blader now attained some sort of large laser sword, something that reminded me of light sabers. I blinked a couple of times, realizing that the first hit I took at Duel Academy was going to be a heavy one.

"Fusion Weapon increases my Cyber Blader's attack power by 1500 points! Now attack Breaker the Magical Warrior!" Alexis shouted with vengeance, as the Cyber Blader skated rapidly and elegantly, slashing Breaker across the torso with that laser sword and inciting a ferocious explosion. Everyone in the crowd cheered and gasped in excitement as I shielded myself, straining to keep my footing from the sheer force of the blast. I growled unhappily as my Life Points dropped sharply to an even 2000. It seemed Alexis was going to put up a fight.

_Alexis ** 0700 ** – Alistair ** 2000 ** _

"I'll play a face-down card and end my turn," she finished. I narrowed my eyes and drew, examining my hand. Before I played anything, however, I had one other matter to attend to.

"By destroying Breaker the Magical Warrior, you triggered this spell card, Last Will!" I exclaimed, flipping up my face-down card. Alexis was quick to act, activating her own face-down card.

"Then I'll activate Magic Jammer!" she said. "By discarding one card from my hand, your Last Will spell is negated and destroyed!"

As she had explained, my Last Will card exploded into fragments of light, its effect negated. I had to admit, she was talented. "Well played," I complimented with a smile. She smiled and nodded back, but her gaze never lightened.

"What am I to do now?" I thought out loud with a grin. I plucked two cards from my hand and confirmed that it would buy me some valuable time. "I'll just play my Skilled Dark Magician (1900 / 1700) in defense mode, and one face-down card. Nothing else I'm able to do, I'm afraid."

Alexis's grin got wider as she drew her next card.

"I won't complain if you want to throw away your monsters to my Cyber Blader," she taunted. "Cyber Blader, attack his Skilled Dark Magician!" The Cyber Blader obeyed and was ready to demolish my Magician when I silently took one card from my hand and slipped it into my coat pocket, a smile creeping onto my face. To Alexis's complete shock, the Cyber Blader was frozen instantly, sparing my monster.

"…What?" she managed to say. "Why did she stop??"

"Oh, that would be my fault," I explained, as the crowd seemed baffled. I removed the card from my pocket and held it up. It was an Injection Fairy Lily.

"But that monster isn't even summoned!" Alexis argued. "How can it-"

"Very simply," I laughed, waving my hand over my face-down card. It flipped up, and upon seeing what it was, I could tell Alexis knew she was going to be in for a long battle.


	7. The Semifinal Duel, Part 2

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 7 – THE SEMIFINAL DUEL, PART 2_**

_Alexis **0700 ** – Alistair **2000 ** _

Alexis and I were still locked in our fiery Semifinal duel, and I had felt I had gained the upper hand. With a 2000 to 700 advantage in Life Points and the trap card I had just activated, things were starting to go my way again after taking a rather brutal beating from Alexis's powered-up Cyber Blader. I slipped the Injection Fairy Lily back into my pocket as the Cyber Blader returned to Alexis's side of the field.

"Elemental Absorber," I stated, "is a trap card that allows me to remove one monster in my hand from the game. By removing my Injection Fairy Lily, an Earth-type monster, all of YOUR Earth-type monsters are unable to attack as long as this card is in play! And that's right, Alexis… guess what type your Cyber Blader is."

"Fine," Alexis conceded. "But I'll still play this! My Pot of Greed! Now I can draw two cards from my deck and add them to my hand."

As Alexis did so, the staff held by my Skilled Dark Magician began to emanate a faint glow. I smiled a bit at Alexis's puzzled expression.

"Oh, you're just witnessing my Magician's special effect," I told her. "Every time one of us uses a spell card, such as your Pot of Greed, my Skilled Dark Magician gains one spell counter. And when he has three… well, you'll see."

Alexis stared at the Skilled Dark Magician uneasily before ending her turn. I drew my card and added it to my hand, giving me a total of two. I thought for a moment, realizing that I didn't really have a whole lot of options at the moment. Thankfully my Elemental Absorber was holding Alexis off.

"I'll just play one card face down," I said with a sigh. "That'll do it for me."

Alexis drew, her expression slowly turning to one of frustration. "I'll just play a face-down card as well," she said calmly. "That Absorber won't hold me off forever, you know."

I drew my next card, and chuckled.

"I don't expect it to," I told her. "I only want it to last long enough for me to get rid of that Cyber Blader. I activate my face-down card, Pitch-Black Power Stone."

My face-down card rose, and a black circular stone with a golden triangle on it materialized in front of the card's hologram. One of the three glowing points on the triangle faded, and the light flowing from the staff of my Skilled Dark Magician got brighter.

"This card contains three spell counters," I explained to Alexis. "Every turn I can transfer one counter from my Power Stone to any card on the field. So I use its effect to transfer one counter to my Skilled Dark Magician."

I looked down at the two cards I held in my hand, and opted to play.

"I now play Graceful Charity!" I proclaimed, happy to finally be able to get some variety into my hand. "Having just played it a couple of turns ago, you should know what it does." I drew three cards into my hand and thought about which two to discard. After making my decision, the staff of my Skilled Dark Magician grew to full power.

"Now with three spell counters, I can sacrifice my Skilled Dark Magician!" I shouted as the monster dissolved and disappeared. I fanned out my entire deck and selected one card, placing it on my dueling device to replace the monster I had sacrificed. "Thanks to his special effect, I now am able to summon the Dark Magician (2500 / 2100)!" Perhaps one of the most famous Duel Monsters in the world, the Dark Magician materialized on my side of the field, earning a plethora of "ooh"s and "aah"s from the crowd.

"I'll also summon my Skilled WHITE Magician (1700 / 1900) in defense mode!" I added, as a being similar to the Skilled Dark Magician emerged, this one covered with white robes. Alexis grew increasingly annoyed as her situation only grew more hazardous. Looking at the single card in my hand, I had a feeling things would get a lot worse for her if things went my way.

"I see no need to play any face-downs," I laughed confidently. "Seeing how you can't attack anyway." Alexis glared at me harshly and drew a card.

"That's where you're wrong!" she finally shouted with an air of determination. "I summon Cyber Petit Angel (300 / 200)!"

The monster she summoned almost had me doubling over in laughter. A tiny little pink puffball with miniature wings and a halo appeared on Alexis's side of the field.

"You're going to attack me with cotton candy?" I joked, raising an eyebrow.

"You wish," she shot back, searching through her deck. "By summoning Cyber Petit Angel, I can add one Ritual magic card from my deck to my hand!" Alexis found the card she was looking for, and pulled it out.

"Now I can play this! Machine Angel Ritual!"

A bright line of light split the duel arena in half and began to expand, covering every surface in the stadium in a sort of stainless steel coating. The entire field had been transformed into a cold, metallic chamber.

"I'm not sure I like the interior decorating," I teased Alexis, getting an angry look from her.

"You'll like it a lot less after this summon!" she insisted. "I sacrifice my Cyber Blader and my Cyber Petit Angel to summon Cyber Angel Dakini (2700 / 2400)!" A four-armed female warrior emerged onto the field, wielding a pair of swords and a large staff. This I hadn't seen coming.

"2700 points??" I stammered with surprise. Alexis smiled and nodded. "AND it has a special effect," she told me all too happily. "When Dakini is summoned to the field, one of your monsters is automatically destroyed!"

I found myself shielding myself again as my Skilled White Magician instantly exploded. The crowd was cheering on Alexis's comeback, and found myself with only my Dark Magician guarding me.

"And since Dakini is a Light-type, she's unaffected by your Elemental Absorber! Now Cyber Angel Dakini, attack his Dark Magician!" she commanded, as Dakini slashed twice, destroying my Dark Magician in the same fashion my Skilled White Magician went down. My frustration built as the score got closer, my Life Points decreasing to 1800.

_Alexis **0700 ** – Alistair **1800 ** _

"Since you have no more cards in your hand, I assume you're finished," I mocked, drawing a card before she answered. I looked at my two cards and smiled in anticipation.

"I play one monster in defense mode and one card face-down," I said cunningly. "Your turn, Alexis. And I hope it's a good one." Visibly unfazed by my words, Alexis drew her next card.

"How's this for a move? Dakini, attack his defense monster!" she shouted, ordering her monster to do exactly what I expected. I extended my hand over my face-down card, causing it to rise and emit a brilliant red and blue vortex that forced Dakini back to Alexis's side of the field.

"My trap card, Negate Attack, automatically ends your Battle Phase," I explained to her. "So sorry, but my face-down monster will remain that way for now." Alexis gave me a calculating stare, and then looked down at the card in her hand.

"Finished?" I asked with a grin. She certainly didn't trust me, and reacted as such.

"I'll play Soul of the Pure, allowing me to regain 800 Life Points!" she decided, her Life Point total rising to 1500. "That ends my turn."

_Alexis **1500 ** – Alistair **1800 ** _

I drew my next card, somehow knowing that the end was near.

"First, I play this card face-down, and then switch my hidden Morphing Jar to attack mode!" I started off, revealing my defense monster and thus activating its ability. "When summoned, the Morphing Jar destroys both our hands, and then allows us to draw five new cards. But since neither of us HAVE any cards in our hands, we each have nothing to lose."

We each drew five cards, and noticing my hand, my mind formulated a plan almost immediately.

"Next, I'll use this magic card, Premature Burial!" I started off. "By paying 800 Life Points, I can resurrect one monster from my graveyard, and I choose my Dark Magician!" My Life Points fell to 1000, and in return my Dark Magician reappeared on the field in attack position.

_Alexis **1500 ** – Alistair **1000 ** _

"But he won't be here for long, Alexis," I explained with a smile. I then displayed two other cards in my hand: Buster Blader and Polymerization. "I use Polymerization to fuse the Dark Magician and the Buster Blader together to create the Dark Paladin (2900 / 2400)!"

The black-armored entity took the place of the Dark Magician, the first monster I was capable of summoning that could overpower her Cyber Angel Dakini. But that wasn't enough. I was going to defeat Alexis in this single turn.

"And now this duel concludes, thanks to my Paladin's special effect," I boasted. "For every Dragon-type monster in our graveyards, my Dark Paladin gains 500 more attack points!"

Alexis seemed stunned, but quickly recovered when she realized one minor detail.

"But there ARE no Dragon-type monsters in our graveyards!" she argued. I smiled at my hand, and with a flourish, flipped up the face-down card I played just before calling out my Morphing Jar.

"But soon there will be, for now I activate Trap Booster!" I proclaimed. I took one card from my hand and sent it to my graveyard. "By destroying a single card, I can activate a trap card straight from my hand! And I only have one card left… and what are the odds, Alexis, that my final card is Samsara Dogma!!"

Alexis widened her eyes incredulously and quickly looked at her dueling device. Her graveyard was now spitting out all its monsters, as was mine.

"By activating Samsara Dogma, every monster in our graveyards BECOMES a Dragon-type! Now then, let's count off, shall we?" I said confidently. "There are four monsters in your graveyard, and SEVEN monsters in mine! I think you can do the math…"

Alexis was absolutely silent as my Dark Paladin's attack power skyrocketed to a crippling and horrifying total of 8400.

"Attack, Dark Paladin, and destroy Cyber Angel Dakini!" I bellowed triumphantly, watching as my Paladin launched itself into the air, slamming down its giant edged staff and engulfing Alexis's entire side of the field in a tremendous explosion that rocked the whole duel arena. There were groans from Alexis's fans and cheers from mine as the dust finally settled, the monsters and effects of Machine Angel Ritual faded, and Alexis's Life Points dropped to 0.

_Alexis **0000 ** – Alistair **1000 ** _

The entire staff was on their feet, applauding for a magnificently exciting duel. I could hear Alexis's dazed mumbling and politely crossed the arena, helping her up. We shook hands in the name of sportsmanship, and stepped out of the dueling ring.

"I lost…" she sighed with disappointment. I sympathized and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You are, without a doubt in my mind, the most talented duelist I have ever faced," I told her seriously. "I never told you… actually, I haven't told anyone, not even Crowler or Sheppard, that I've never lost a duel in my entire life. And you nearly did it."

Alexis gave me a skeptical look, obviously not believing me.

"Why would you keep something like that from the academy?" she asked me. "You could be a graduate by now, if that's true."

I sighed and shook my head. "I don't want to graduate in a week," I explained. "I like it here. I want to enjoy my time here. If I graduated that fast, all my efforts to come here would have been for nothing."

Alexis went quiet, so I assumed she understood. We went back to our seats and had a few more moments to talk while Chazz and Jaden prepared for their Semifinal match.

"I've got a feeling, Alexis," I said quietly, "that one of these days, you'll be the duelist that defeats me."


	8. Heroes and Sorcerers

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

Author's Note 2: For the purposes of this story, Jaden will have access to his Elemental Hero Neos and Neo-Spacian fusion monsters.

_**CHAPTER 8 – HEROES AND SORCERERS**_

Alexis never said another word for the remainder of the tournament. Of course if she had said something, I wouldn't have noticed, because my notepad and pen were out again, making notes regarding Jaden's Elemental Heroes and Chazz's Ojamas and machines. I noticed both loved to use Fusion Monsters, a very important note I made that I planned to use against them in the Final. Jaden ultimately emerged as the victor (for about the hundredth time according to Chazz's reaction) thanks to his Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman wrecking Chazz's XYZ-Dragon Cannon. As in all other duels, we applauded politely along with the crowd as Chazz sulked off somewhere, probably so he could listen to punk music to vent. Jaden waved to his fans but never left the dueling ring. Instead, he pointed straight at me, ready to look for success where so many others had failed.

"Get your game on, Alistair!" he shouted. "It's just you and me now!"

I laughed softly and turned to Alexis. "I still find it hard to believe this kid is the best duelist in the academy," I teased. Alexis smiled and shook her head.

"Don't underestimate Jaden," was her warning. "That's been everyone's biggest mistake when dueling him." I took her advice to heart and nodded, rising from my chair and proceeding back to the dueling ring. The tension filling the arena built steadily as Jaden and I shook hands, exchanged and shuffled decks, and switched our dueling devices into battle position. I overheard Crowler's voice in the crowd saying something along the lines of, "Well this will certainly be interesting."

The crowd was as noisy as ever as Jaden and I stared each other down.

"Still think you're the best duelist in this academy, do you?" I inquired with a grin. Jaden smirked back and answered, "Of course."

"Let's test that theory, then."

"Fine with me, Alistair!"

We each drew five cards, and our Life Points were reset to 4000.

"DUEL!"

_Jaden **4000 ** – Alistair **4000 ** _

Jaden asked if he could have the first turn, to which I agreed. Drawing his sixth card, he wasted no time in making his initial move.

"Alright, I start by summoning Elemental Hero Bubbleman (800 / 1200) in attack mode!" he began, as a sort of blue, stocky version of Batman appeared, a sort of water gun attached to his right arm. "And, since Bubbleman is the only monster on my field, I can draw two cards!"

After drawing, Jaden was just as quick in deciding what to do from there.

"I'll throw down a pair of face-downs for later, and call it a turn," he then said, finishing his turn. "Let's see what you got this time!"

I smirked at Jaden's comment and drew a card, looking over my hand. I nodded to myself, admiring another good draw. A rather clever idea entered my mind as I selected a magic card from my hand.

"I'll use this magic card, Painful Choice!" I stated, revealing it to Jaden.

"Sweet! What's that do?" he asked with an oblivious smile. I sighed. No wonder this kid was still a Slifer.

"Painful Choice allows me to show you any five cards from my deck," I explained, fanning out my cards and selecting the ones I felt would put my plan into motion. After choosing five, they disappeared from my deck and reappeared in front of me as holograms, all facing Jaden. The cards I had shown him were one Dark Magician, three Magicians of Black Chaos, and one trap card, A Rival Appears.

"So you're showing me five cards?" he queried, obviously not having a clue about Painful Choice's effect. "You just feeling like a nice guy today, Alistair?"

Ignorance at this level can't possibly exist.

"Of course not," I corrected him. "It's called Painful Choice because now you have to choose which one of these five cards gets added to my hand. Then the four you don't select are immediately destroyed." I hoped Jaden was dim enough to pick the one card I wanted.

"…A Rival Appears?" I heard him ask himself. Great, another card I would have to explain to him. "Well I really don't want to see any of those monsters on the field, so I'll let you have A Rival Appears and destroy the other four!"

I smiled deviously as A Rival Appears materialized into my hand, while the other four disappeared and were sent straight to my graveyard. So far, everything was going well.

"I'll just lay two cards face down and end my turn," I announced calmly, throwing the crowd and staff into utter confusion. The fact that I hadn't summoned a single monster to defend myself was almost suicide in their eyes. But if I had studied Jaden well enough in this tournament, I knew what his next move was going to be.

"No monsters?" Jaden murmured quizzically. "Well, it's your deck!" He drew his card and followed my prediction perfectly.

"Now I play Polymerization, and fuse Elemental Hero Clayman and Elemental Hero Sparkman from my hand to summon…"

My gaze shifted to the face-down card on my left, which I knew would be able to stop him in his tracks. But I allowed him to continue, having a better idea occur to me.

"…Elemental Hero Thunder Giant (2400 / 1500)!" Joining Bubbleman was a massive juggernaut of a monster, seemingly made of stone and bearing some sort of blue core in its torso. It slammed down onto the field with a thunderous quake, and Jaden smiled broadly.

"Alright, Thunder Giant! Attack Alistair directly!" he commanded, as the Thunder Giant prepared to blast me with a surge of lightning. But not before I reacted first.

"I activate the trap card you just added to my hand: A Rival Appears!" I countered, the card on my right side revealing itself. "And since you seem to have no clue what it does, here's your lesson for today. By activating A Rival Appears, I can automatically summon a monster from my hand with the same level as that Thunder Giant!"

I looked down at my hand, already knowing the card I had planned to summon with this method, and placed it onto the dueling device.

"Jaden, meet the Dark Magician Girl (2000 / 1700)!" I proclaimed, as the object of affection of just about every male in Duel Academy materialized onto my side of the field. I was met with an explosion of cheers and whistles, most of which came from Syrus who was jumping excitedly on the sidelines. Jaden, however, was still baffled.

"But she's only got 2000 attack points," he said. "My Thunder Giant's got 2400!"

"True," I answered him, "but what you overlook is her special ability, one that increases her attack power by 300 for every Dark Magician and Magician of Black Chaos in my graveyard! And as I recall, Jaden, you just forced me to destroy FOUR of them, giving her a bonus of 1200 points!"

The Dark Magician Girl's attack power rose to 3200, more than enough to blast the Thunder Giant into rubble and debris and reduce Jaden's Life Points to 3200. Clearly unhappy, Jaden glared across the field at me and my Dark Magician Girl.

_Jaden **3200 ** – Alistair **4000 ** _

"Now do you want to attack with that Bubbleman or should I assume you're done?" I taunted. Even Jaden wasn't THAT foolish.

"Not yet!" he insisted, as one of his two trap cards was revealed. "I play a trap! Hero Signal!"

I watched as Jaden fished through his deck, explaining how by destroying Thunder Giant, Hero Signal allows him to automatically summon another Elemental Hero to replace it. He then summoned Elemental Hero Avian (1000 / 1000), a green superhero-esque creature with large feathery wings. Ending his turn, I proceeded to draw, getting a very useful card.

"I play the magic card, Sage's Stone!" I announced to Jaden, as the Dark Magician Girl looked back at me with an ecstatic smile. I fanned out my deck and selected one card, placing it onto the dueling device. "With my Dark Magician Girl on my side of the field, I can use this spell to instantly summon a Dark Magician (2500 / 2100) to join her!"

As explained, my Dark Magician materialized to the left of my Dark Magician Girl, providing me with a formidable attack force.

"Now, Dark Magician, attack Elemental Hero Bubbleman!" I ordered, but just before the surge of dark energy was about to connect, Jaden's other face-down card activated.

"Not so fast! I play Negate Attack!" Jaden countered, as a blue and red vortex erupted in front of Bubbleman, swallowing up my Dark Magician's attack. "Not only does this block your Dark Magician's attack, but it ends your Battle Phase entirely!"

"Just delaying the inevitable," I laughed, declaring my turn over. Jaden drew his next card and smiled at me confidently.

"I play a Field Spell!" he proclaimed. "Fusion Gate!"

The ceiling of the duel arena faded out of view as a murky black fog swirled in spirals above us. I gazed up at the darkness as Jaden unnecessarily explained its effect.

"You see, Fusion Gate lets me combine my Elemental Heroes, without using Polymerization!" he pointed out. "And now I'll give you a demonstration by fusing Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix to create…"

"Absolutely NOTHING!" I shouted at Jaden, extending my arm and flipping up my other face-down card. "I activate Non-Fusion Area!"

Instantly, a powerful force field sealed up the Fusion Gate, preventing Jaden from making any fusions at all. Jaden stared up at it momentarily, and then back at me.

"Non-Fusion Area is a permanent trap, preventing either of us from making ANY Fusion Summons," I told him sharply. "That means no Polymerization, no Miracle Fusion, and no Fusion Gate."

"Well I gotta hand it to ya, Alistair, that's a pretty nice card," Jaden complimented. "Although I've got plenty more tricks up my sleeve in store for you! But first I'll just switch Bubbleman and Avian to defense mode, and then play this face-down card. You're up!"

I drew my next card, and wished it was a better one. I, too, had other tricks up my sleeve as well, however. I looked at his face-down card, my mind quickly calculating my risk of attacking.

"I'll play one face-down card as well," I decided, a new card hologram coming into view next to my Non-Fusion Area trap. "With that settled, Dark Magician, attack his Avian!" With the crackling of electricity, my Dark Magician launched its attack, demolishing Avian in a pillar of dark energy.

"Now your Bubbleman is next!" I persisted. "Dark Magician Girl, attack!"

"I activate A Hero Emerges!" Jaden finally countered, his face-down card flipping up. "Now you get to pick one card from my hand, and if it's a monster card, I get to summon it!"

I looked across the field at the two cards Jaden held in his hand, and quickly made a decision.

"The card on the left," I declared, eventually learning that I had selected Jaden's key card.

"Gee, thanks Alistair!" he said with a grateful smile. "Now I summon Elemental Hero Neos (2500 / 2000)!" The superhero that many of Jaden's friends were familiar with soared onto the field, staring down my magicians with a piercing gaze of valor. I narrowed my eyes and continued my attack.

"Unfortunately, that won't save your Bubbleman!" I shouted, as Dark Magician Girl blew away his other Elemental Hero with an explosive pink ball of energy. "I believe that'll end my turn."

Jaden drew his next card, and once again had that token smirk on his face that made me realize he was plotting something.

"I play this! Pot of Greed!" he stated confidently. "Now I can add two cards to my hand, so let's see what I got this time!" Jaden took a look at his two new cards, and wasted no time in playing one of them.

"Next I activate Kishido Spirit!" he continued with determination. "Now if my Elemental Hero Neos attacks a monster that has the same amount of attack points as him, like your Dark Magician, Neos won't be destroyed! But I can't say the same for YOUR monster! Neos, attack!"

"Bad idea," I interrupted, revealing my face-down card. Jaden stared at it as oblivious as ever. I rolled my eyes, realizing that expecting him to know what all these Spellcaster support cards meant was asking a bit much from someone of his academic stature.

"This spell card is called Dedication Through Light and Darkness," I told the perplexed kid. "When activated, I am able to sacrifice my Dark Magician in order to summon the Dark Magician of Chaos (2800 / 2600)!"

Jaden and I observed as my Dark Magician underwent a transformation, its purple armor becoming a mixture of luminous blue, vibrant red, and midnight black. Its helmet morphed into something that looked more like horns, allowing its hair to flow freely.

"Don't forget, since I sacrificed my Dark Magician, my Dark Magician Girl's attack power increases by ANOTHER 300 points, giving her a total of 3500. Now I'll assume you'll be calling off your attack," I added with a chuckle. Jaden gave me a defiant look, but it was obvious he didn't have much of a choice.

I drew my next card, and as if on cue, my Sage's Stone magic card also appeared in my hand.

"Didn't you just play that card?" Jaden asked me skeptically. I laughed and nodded.

"I did, but thanks to the special ability of my Dark Magician of Chaos, I can return one spell card from my graveyard to my hand," I explained to him. "And since you mentioned it, I think I'll replay it as well! Come out, Dark Magician!"

My final Dark Magician emerged onto the field, giving me a set of three monsters with 2500 attack points or more. But I wasn't nearly finished.

"Not done yet, Jaden," I assured him, taking another card from my hand. "I now play my Graceful Charity spell card! Even you know how this works. I draw three cards, so long as I discard two to the graveyard."

After doing just that, it was time to bring out a new monster.

"Next I'll sacrifice my Dark Magician AND my Dark Magician Girl!" I proclaimed, once again sending the crowd into a confused stupor. "Since they were both Level 6 Spellcasters, their sacrifices allow me to summon the Sorcerer of Dark Magic (3200 / 2800)!"

My newest Spellcaster monster rose from a swirling portal in the floor, its armor as dark as the night sky and its golden three-pronged staff held tightly in its right hand.

"Now for the final step," I added, feeling my inevitable victory approach. "After playing Graceful Charity, I intentionally discarded my Skilled White Magician to the graveyard! Because now I can remove it and my Dark Magician Girl from the game to summon the pride of my deck, the Chaos Sorcerer (2300 / 2000)!!"

The crowd rose in noise just as my Chaos Sorcerer descended to the dueling field. Standing on my side of the field now were the three most powerful Magicians in my deck, all at the same time.

"And so our duel concludes, Jaden," I stated with finality. "First I activate my Chaos Sorcerer's special ability, allowing me to remove one monster from the game. So farewell, Elemental Hero Neos!"

Neos was blasted by a helix-shaped torrent of light and dark energy from my Chaos Sorcerer, obliterating him from the battlefield and leaving only Bubbleman as Jaden's defense.

"Dark Magician of Chaos, attack Elemental Hero Bubbleman and wipe out his final line of defense!" I shouted as my second order. The Dark Magician of Chaos twirled its staff twice and directed it at Bubbleman, instantly vaporizing it with a vortex of dark energy. My gaze shifted to Jaden for one final time.

"And now, Jaden, my Sorcerer of Dark Magic attacks you directly!!" I finally bellowed, commanding my final magician to blast Jaden with a colossal torrent of electrical energy, bringing the infamous Slifer to his knees and reducing his Life Points to 0.

_Jaden **0000** – Alistair **4000 ** _

The holograms disappeared from sight and the expectant roar of applause erupted from the students and staff. I did what I always did – crossed the dueling ring and gave Jaden a hand up, congratulating him on a hard-fought duel.

"Not bad for a bunch of Elemental Heroes," I told him with a chuckle. "Maybe I'll leave my Non-Fusion Area trap out of our next duel, just to see what you can do then."

"Oh yeah, of course!" Jaden answered. "Just holler if you want a rematch, cause I'm always game!"

We shook hands and stepped off the dueling platform as Chancellor Sheppard spoke one final time to the audience, reminding everyone that further tournaments were being held all week. I made a point to check out some of them if I had some free time after class later on. In the meantime, the eight of us that participated in Monday's tournament left the arena tunnel, eventually meeting up with our dorm heads. Apparently not only were the staff watching our tournament for entertainment, but we were also being graded. Banner presented me with a progress report and five booster packs, the prize for winning a tournament, apparently. I thanked him, tucked the boosters into my pocket, and took a look at my progress report.

Having gone 3-0 in duels today, I wasn't surprised at the high marks. I was analyzed in a number of aspects, including effective management of Life Points, tactical use of monster effects, support spells and traps, and card control. All in all, the report itself looked pretty complicated, but the "97 / 100" in the bottom-right-hand corner was all I needed to see to be satisfied. My eyes scanned the area, seeing a few different reactions from everyone who had gotten their reports. I folded up my own into a little square and tucked it away, suddenly feeling rather drowsy. I rubbed at my aching eyes with my left hand and yawned noisily before making for the exit. I was stopped by a few whispers that I picked up on from behind me. Turning around, I saw Jaden whispering something into Alexis's ear, after which they both straightened up and walked over to me.

"You know, Alistair, there's one other prize for the winner," Alexis told me while Jaden stared at the wall, looking like he found something very amusing about it. The fact that he was avoiding eye contact bothered me.

"Another prize?" I asked, too tired to be thinking straight, let alone performing proper risk analysis in my mind. "What else is there?"

"You get a kiss from Miss Duel Academy!" she chimed. "Jaden and I will take you down to meet her." I blinked a couple of times and rubbed my forehead.

"Miss… Duel Academy?" I inquired curiously. "You mean like… Miss America or something?"

"Something like that," she told me, now tugging on my arm. "Come on, you don't want to keep her waiting!"

So Jaden and Alexis carted me off to god-knows-where. In my current mental state, all I thought was 'This can't possibly be bad.'

I would very soon realize just how off I was, and from that day forward vowed revenge on the ones who wronged me – the two evil, evil, evil minds that made me kiss Ms. Dorothy in front of a student crowd of eight thousand strong.


	9. A Declaration of War

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 9 – A DECLARATION OF WAR_**

The remainder of the first week passed with very few incidents. I was able to enjoy some tournament play after class, and for the most part had relatively light coursework to deal with. I wasn't particularly surprised, seeing how it was the first week of my first year, and grew fond of the peaceful seclusion this island had from the nonstop action that went on over on the mainland.

A portion of my free time was dedicated to a little matter of vengeance I had with Jaden and Alexis. Despite my studious ethics, I am most certainly not a complete bore, and I firmly believe that no evil deed should go unpunished. I succumbed to their clever trickery last night thanks to a lack of sleep, but I was going to make sure they felt the wrath of Alistair Rhein. My notepad slowly made a transition from Duel Monsters strategies to prank ideas, as I scribbled down anything that sounded embarrassing enough to inflict upon them. As luck would have it, fate would decide to intervene on the first day of the second week.

It was early Monday morning. Half of the students in Crowler's class were still trying to wake themselves up, and the lecture being given on spell speeds wasn't exactly invigorating. Thinking I was taking notes, Crowler thankfully opted not to pepper me with random questions to see if I was paying attention. Jaden got most of those, anyway. I was puzzling over my list during class's end, when I attracted the attention of one Atticus Rhodes.

"Alistair, good buddy!" he said, slinging his arm over my shoulder. Before he was able to continue, I quickly tossed his arm off.

"No, Atticus, I'm not dating your sister," I told him flatly. I got a laugh in response as he shook his head.

"No, no, you got me all wrong!" he insisted. "That's not why I'm here. I saw what she and Jaden pulled on you at the tournament last night."

I immediately facepalmed, not wanting to recall that moment. Lack of sleep was a horrible thing, like getting drunk one evening and then knowing the very next day that you did something you would regret. Atticus didn't stop there.

"Also I saw what you were writing there, and figured you're planning to strike back!" he laughed. I stopped in my tracks and faced him.

"Keep it down!" I instructed him harshly. "You'll take away my element of surprise!"

"Dude, relax!" Atticus cut in. "I just wanted to ask you if you wanted my help." I raised a curious eyebrow at this offer. Since I was plotting to wage war against both Jaden and Alexis, it seemed feasible that I shouldn't be outnumbered. After all, two minds are always better than one.

"You'll help me get back at your sister?" I asked him with a hint of skepticism. "I don't know… Are you sure you don't have some ulterior motive behind all this?"

"Trust me," he assured, tugging me by my jacket. "Come on, we're going to the Obelisk Dorm to strategize."

The Obelisk Dorm was, to say the least, remarkable. The main lobby was simply immense, with elegant marble staircases curving up to the upper levels, and a gorgeous chandelier bathing the walls in light. Atticus dragged me up two floors and down a couple of hallways until we reached his dorm. His choice of decorating was… well, painful. My eyes felt like they were being violated, as the calming blue of the lobby and hallways shifted drastically to a dorm decked out with Hawaiian posters, featuring surfing, luaus, and volcanoes. So many colors struck my retinas at once, it was almost dizzying. I quickly found a seat before I wound up falling over from disorientation.

"Now let's see here…" Atticus pondered. "Alexis hates it when I try to set her up with guys, so that'll definitely have to play a part."

I nodded and jotted it down in my notepad when a thought struck me. I flipped a few pages back and began rereading what I had written. Atticus turned his head to look at me and tried to see what I was looking at.

"Jaden," I finally said. "She has a crush on him."

"Say what!" Atticus choked, taken aback. "My Lexi is in love?" His eyes glistened over with happiness and I seriously considered smacking him across the face to return him to reality. I could almost hear the wedding bells chiming in his daydreams.

"First of all, Jaden seems to have the awareness of a rock," I sneered, "so he's obviously oblivious to it. Secondly, how the hell did you NOT know? Just the way Alexis looks at him makes it stupidly obvious."

Atticus shook his head as his mind snapped back from La-La Land and gave me a puzzled look. "I guess I never noticed."

I sighed, resigning myself to the fact that few people on this island possessed much common sense. Making more notes, I prepared a list of materials and requirements that needed to be fulfilled for a plan I had concocted. I smiled at my genius, taking advantage of the moment to stroke my ego. Explaining my idea to Atticus, he appeared intrigued.

"Heh heh, well it sounds like it's got promise," he agreed. "If you can pull it off, you'll get one heck of a reaction!" I nodded, slipping the notepad and pen back into my pocket.

"You get the supplies," I instructed him. "I'll do the dirty work." We grinned connivingly at each other as Atticus set off to collect some necessary items.

"You can count on me, man!" he said, giving me a thumbs up. I flexed my fingers like a mad scientist would while anticipating an especially devious experiment. I exited Atticus's dorm and made my way back to my own to catch up on the current events, the grin on my face never disappearing. The next couple of days were going to be very fascinating indeed.


	10. Meeting on the Beach

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 10 – MEETING ON THE BEACH_**

The next day I once again met with Atticus, confirming that all the necessary materials had been obtained and prepared for the mission. Now, it was up to me to set the stage for my revenge, and it would all start after the final class of the day. Tuesday evening after alchemy class with Banner, I caught up with Alexis in the hall. Luckily only she was in the same class with me, as Jaden's schedule had him taking it on Thursdays.

"Ah, Alexis," I called out to her. "I've been looking for you." She turned her head toward me and smiled.

"Hey Alistair," she greeted. "What's up?"

"Jaden asked me to give you a message," I lied. "Said he wanted to meet you on the eastern beach around 9 o'clock tonight. I asked him why, but he said it was a secret."

Alexis faintly blushed and turned away, allowing me to grin villainously to myself at how well this plan could work. I decided to press the matter.

"Something wrong, Alexis?" I asked quizzically.

"Oh, uh… no, I'm fine," she quickly said in an attempt to cover up her strange behavior. "Tell him I'll be there." I nodded and patted her on the shoulder. "Will do."

We parted ways so I could go and find Jaden, mildly surprised at how smoothly that went.

"One down, one to go," I whispered to myself, scanning the hallways in search of Jaden. It was nearly 8:30, so I had to work fast. Timing was of the utmost importance, for if I had set the "meeting" too late, it would give Jaden and Alexis enough time to meet up ahead of schedule. I was unable to locate him in the halls, so I headed over to the Slifer Red dorm to check his room, wondering if he decided to turn in early. Syrus answered the door upon my knocking, staring up at me curiously.

"Oh, hi Alistair," he said, adjusting his tiny glasses. "Are you looking for Jay?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," I answered, leaning my head in and taking a look around. "Is he here?"

"No, I think he went to the arena to duel Chazz," Syrus answered. "Chazz has been wanting a rematch ever since he lost in that tournament last week." I nodded in understanding, not surprised that Jaden was at the duel arena; after all, he spent most of his time there.

"Alright, I'll head over there," I sighed. "Thanks, Sy."

I left the blue-haired kid to whatever he was doing, and made my way across the grounds to the duel arena. I peeked inside, and sure enough, Jaden and Chazz were at it again. I bursted into the arena, pretending to be in a rush. Chazz was the first to notice me, and was none too thrilled.

"What are YOU doing here, Silver Slifer?" he sneered at me. I rolled my eyes and turned to Jaden, who gave me a much warmer welcome.

"Hey Alistair, what's going on?" he greeted me with a wave. I finished "catching my breath" and proceeded to give him the news.

"I've been looking all over the island for you," I told him. "Alexis told me to ask you if you could meet her on the eastern beach tonight when she gets out of class at 9. She sounded like she had something pretty important to talk about." The look on Chazz's face was _priceless_. Jealousy burned in his eyes as Jaden just gave me a puzzling look.

"Really?" he pondered. "Huh, I wonder what's on her mind. Alright, I'll be there."

"Then you better hurry," I told him, glancing at my watch. It's almost 9 now." At that point, Chazz decided to make his opinion known.

"Excuse me!" he yelled irritably. "We're in the middle of a DUEL here!" Jaden gave him an apologetic look and scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry Chazz, but I can't just leave Lex out there if she needs someone to talk to," he explained. "We'll duel again tomorrow! I promise!" As Jaden rushed out of the arena, prompting the holograms to fade away, Chazz gripped his hair and gritted his teeth in frustration. "WHY CAN'T SHE EXPRESS HER FEELINGS TO **ME**!"

I stifled a chuckle when Chazz then realized I was still here. He widened his eyes and shook his fist at me.

"You didn't hear anything, Silver Slifer!" he shouted. I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms.

"You know, I don't trust those two either," I told Chazz, deciding to make a little improvisation to my scheme. "I'm sure you can find out what they're up to by heading on over yourself, so long as you don't get spotted by anyone."

"You're nuts," he told me. "I would never betray my sweet Lexi's trust!" I sighed, shook my head, and headed for the doors.

"Suit yourself," I replied tiredly, knowing deep down that Chazz was going to go spy anyway.

The plan was now in full swing. I waited just beside the door to my dorm, keeping it cracked open to as to see when Jaden was going to leave. As soon as I saw him pass by, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small walkie-talkie.

"Silver to Blue, come in Blue," I spoke quietly into it. Atticus's voice came over the speaker seconds later. "This is Blue! What's up?"

"Jaden has left the dorm," I replied. "Standby Phase completed. Proceed into Main Phase."

I waited precisely ninety seconds and left the Slifer Red dorm, making a beeline for the academy itself. I rushed through the main entrance and down a few hallways, counting off rooms. Eventually I found what I was looking for: the teacher's lounge. I opened the door to find Banner and Crowler having a conversation, which I obviously interrupted with my sudden entrance.

"Alistair!" Crowler said, surprised. "You know you're not allowed in this room!"

"My apologies, Professor," I quickly answered. "But I heard some strange sounds over on the eastern beach. Two voices. They sounded like they were hurt."

"Is this true?" Banner asked, standing up.

"Yes, sir," I assured him. "I thought it best that I inform you two. I can lead the way."

Crowler and Banner complied, and I turned out of the doorway, staying a few steps ahead of them. I stealthily extracted my walkie-talkie from my pocket and gave Atticus the go-ahead.

"Blue, this is Silver," I whispered. "Crowler and Banner are on their way. Proceed into Battle Phase in exactly forty-five seconds. Do not reply to this message." With that, I turned off the device and once again buried it in my pocket. Looking behind me, Crowler and Banner were keeping pace, so I continued to head for the entrance. As soon as I exited the doors, I heard a number of loud popping sounds, followed by a scream. I nearly collapsed in laughter, but managed to maintain my composure. I couldn't let myself fall apart when I was so close to victory. As planned, Crowler and Banner heard absolutely nothing, as they were too far back. I continued down the pathway as I reviewed the plan in my mind.

Other than the walkie talkies, the only other material needed for the plan was a set of cherry bombs. When I gave Atticus the signal to enter the "Battle Phase", he was to light and launch the cherry bombs toward Jaden and Alexis, far enough away to avoid injury, but close enough to freak them out. If all went according to plan…

We finally reached the beach, and the scenario couldn't have been more perfect. Jaden was sprawled on the ground, and Alexis was on top of him clinging to his jacket, her face buried in his chest. To top it all off, she was breathing heavily from the panic. I could hardly contain my amusement, but instead quickly covered my mouth in feigned shock.

"Oh my," I chuckled, my eyes wide with surprise. I turned to see Crowler and Banner with similar expressions. Jaden and Alexis looked up at us, and quickly scrambled to their feet. Before they could say anything, Crowler was sent into hysteria.

"MY BEST STUDENT!" he shrieked. "AND SLACKER! THIS CAN'T BE! IT CAN'T BE!"

He went sprinting back toward the academy, squealing like a terrified child. Banner said nothing, but his face was full of total astonishment. Jaden quickly took the opportunity to defend himself.

"P-P-Professor..! It's not what it… I didn't… You don't really think that we were…?"

Banner merely smiled and chuckled to himself, turning back toward the academy and heading up the path. Alexis was staring daggers at me, and I finally realized that I hadn't exactly organized a foolproof escape plan. I slowly backed away and pulled out my walkie-talkie with a trembling hand. Flicking it on, I quickly muttered my final message.

"Silver to Blue. Battle Phase complete. Proceed into End Phase."

I dashed away and pulled Atticus out from his hiding spot, ignoring his complaints as we ran for our lives, Alexis screaming at us from afar. It was then, I figured, that it was finally safe to laugh maniacally at a scheme well executed.


	11. Repercussions

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 11 – REPERCUSSIONS_**

I wonder if anyone missed having Alexis and I in class. Both of us were absent for the remainder of the week, as we spent most of our time in the Slifer Red dorm, separated by a locked and bolted door. I tried to stay perfectly silent and hoped Alexis would think that I snuck out a window or something and go away, but the girl was smarter than that.

"ALISTAIR! OPEN THIS DOOR!" she yelled at me from outside. I sat curled up in a corner, terrified of the wrath of a woman scorned. Why, oh why, did I forget to think of a scapegoat for this idea? I desperately tried to think of a way to avoid having my eyes scratched out, and heard her pounding against the door, still screaming for me to come out. An idea then struck me, albeit a risky one. I approached the assaulted door quietly, afraid that in Alexis's rage she would wind up breaking it down. As luck would have it, the door was capable of being locked and unlocked from both sides, so I carefully unlocked the door and threw it open at the perfect time. Alexis lost her balance and fell into my room, giving me time to quickly escape out and shut the door behind me, locking it once again. Needless to say, Alexis was even angrier now and was beating on the door from the other side.

"ALISTAIR!" she screamed in fury. "YOU ARE **SO **DEAD!" I laughed and breathed a sigh of relief, exiting the Slifer Red dorm whistling happily. It wasn't long before I got a message on my PDA, which I glanced down at and froze in horror. The message read:

_What's this box under your bed? Hmm?_

"**_MY CARDS!_**" I shrieked, flying back into the dorm. I tried to unlock my door and get into my room, but clever Alexis seemed to have barricaded my door. Ah, how the tables had turned yet again. I desperately tried to force my way in when Jaden zoomed by, grabbing me by the collar.

"Man, you're finally out of there!" he said with relief. "We gotta get to Crowler's class before he winds up giving **both** of us detention!"

"But my CARDS!" I argued vigorously as I was dragged out of the Slifer Red dorm. "My darlings are in PERIL!"

I was completely unable to concentrate in class that day. Luckily, with the color drained from my face due to the overwhelming terror I felt for my cards – not to mention my dorm in general – Crowler eventually bought my excuse of being sick for the past few days. We were given a 30-question exam on how to counter monster flip effects, many of which I already knew despite missing the last two classes. I blew through the test as fast as humanly possible, turned it in to Crowler, and bolted out of the classroom much to everyone's surprise. I raced back to the dorm at full speed, and bursted through the now-unlocked door to my room. My jaw dropped at the site of my room, which had undergone some serious redecorating during my 80-minute class.

The walls were painted with hot pink polka dots, the bed's white and red sheets were replaced with light pink and baby blue, and posters of various boy bands were pinned up everywhere. A surge of disgust came over me, which certainly wasn't helped by Chazz who picked the perfect time to walk by my room. One look inside, and he fell over laughing.

"Ahahahahaha! Did you do some redecorating, Silver Slifer?" he teased while grasping his sides in laughter. I held back the urge to kick him in the gut and instead slammed the door behind me, his irritating laughter echoing in my mind. I swiftly tore down all the posters from the walls, stuffing them into the nearest trash bin. Before I could consider what could be done about the polka-dotted paint job, I remembered Alexis's PDA comment regarding my card box. I dove to the floor and flipped up the ghastly pink and blue sheets, spotting the silver suitcase that laid beneath the bed, exactly where I had left it. I pulled it out and hastily released the latches, flipping it open.

"Agh!" I shouted, as I was attacked by a swarm of fake snakes. I shook my hair out of my face and stared down into the suitcase with despair. My cards were gone, and Alexis had turned it into a giant version of the overused "can o' snakes" gimmick. I narrowed my eyes in fury and flipped the suitcase over, removing the silver covering. Hidden behind it was a laminated 8x11 sheet of paper, consisting of a detailed list of all the cards I had stored within the suitcase. Knowing exactly what was to be done, I marched over to the nearest pier, got myself a boat, and set out for the Obelisk girls' dorm.

I reached the pier and tied up the boat, rushing up to the Obelisk dorm ahead. I was met there by Atticus, who saw the look on my face and immediately went to stop me.

"Whoa, whoa, you can't just barge into the Obelisk girls' dorm you know!" he told me. "What's the problem this time?"

"Your sister stole my card collection!" I told him vehemently. My face felt very hot, as if steam was ready to pour out of my ears. I valued my card collection very much; I had been building it for over ten years, and I would be damned if it would all be wiped out because of Alexis. "Do you have any idea how much they're WORTH?"

"Okay, okay, calm down man," Atticus instructed. "You need an Obelisk's permission to go in there. So I'll take you up to talk to her."

I reluctantly accepted and followed Atticus through the girls' dorm, which looked rather different from the boys' dorm. I wondered why on earth Atticus was even allowed to be in this building with or without me, figuring it might have something to do with the fact that he has a sister that lives here. I was surprised at the number of girls that poked their heads out of their doorways to stare in wonder at why the "Silver Slifer" was in their dorm, which led me to appreciate having a tour guide in Atticus. The dorm was so massive I would have probably gotten lost multiple times, and likely swarmed by ravenous women in the process. When Atticus came to a stop, I noted the door number, silently memorizing it in case I had to make future trips here in order to retrieve my wrongfully stolen belongings.

Atticus knocked on the door, which was answered seconds later by a familiar blonde.

"**I want my cards**," I growled darkly, giving her a sinister glare that would have sent shivers up even Zane's spine. Alexis crossed her arms and smiled faintly.

"I don't have them anymore," she told me. "My roommates do. They're trying to figure out which ones they want." My jaw dropped, and Atticus decided to cut in.

"Can we talk to them, sis?" he asked her sweetly. "Those cards really mean a lot to Alistair, you know."

"Yeah?" she countered. "Well now half the school thinks Jaden and I are dating because of him."

"You painted my walls _pink!_" I hissed back, clenching my fists. "Polka dots! God-forsaken **_polka dots!_**" Alexis giggled at me, as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that she completely feminized my entire dorm.

"I thought it was cute," she chimed with another smile. Oh, she was going to get it.

"Just get your roommates before they traumatize my card collection," I insisted, closing my eyes. Alexis sighed and disappeared, calling for two girls named Mindy and Jasmine. When they reached the door, sure enough they had their hands full of Duel Monster cards, all of which I recognized.

"Unhand the goods, you thieves!" I shouted, getting more impatient by the second. Atticus was slowly starting to back away, afraid steam really WOULD start pouring from my ears.

"Oh, these?" Mindy asked knowingly, holding up her handfuls of cards.

"I dunno, we kinda like them!" her friend Jasmine added, both wearing conniving grins on their faces. Dealing with women could be beyond frustrating sometimes. I narrowed my eyes as they continued to absent-mindedly flip through the cards they held, before finally looking back up at me.

"Beat us in a duel and THEN we'll give them back," Mindy offered. I let out a low growling sound, knowing I really had no other choice.

"Wait, two against one? Isn't that a bit unfair?" I seethed, crossing my arms.

"Well," Jasmine theorized, "you could team up with Atticus. If you think he'll be a good teammate." The two girls somehow found this amusing, and I quickly glanced over at Atticus.

"Let me see your deck," I told him sharply. Atticus handed me his cards, which I flipped through briskly, making a quick analysis. Eventually, I handed them back to their owner, turned to Alexis's roommates, and answered, "I'll duel on my own."

They strangely found my declaration even MORE amusing. I rolled my eyes and sighed, pulling out a notepad and jotting down some notes.

"We'll set some handicap rules," I stated. "I'll explain them in detail later."

"Fine, then go get your deck ready and we'll see you in the arena in 15 minutes!" Mindy shot at me. "And then when we win, we get to keep your silly little collection!"

"But Mindy, Alistair doesn't have any cards to prepare with, just the ones he had from the tournament!" added Jasmine, igniting another bout of laughter between the two. I resisted the urge to punch something, pocketed the notepad and pen, and had Atticus lead me out of the dorm. Never had I been faced with a duel of such importance. If I were to suffer my first loss, my entire card collection would be taken from me forever. I returned to my dorm, still visibly irked by the day's events.

"I guess I'm stuck with the cards I have right now," I grumbled, until I spotted the mail that came in for me. I flipped through the letters, many of which were from girls I didn't know. Is this what Atticus goes through every day? Finally I reached a letter that was from my parents. I opened it up and had a read.

_Dearest Alistair,_

_Your father and I just received news on your perfect score on your entrance exam. Way to go! Our faith in you never wavered, and to this day we strongly believe that if you commit yourself to your goals, one day your talent will take you to heights you've never thought possible. Every day we hear of your accomplishments in your studies, our pride in you grows. We already miss you back home, but we hope that you're making friends, working hard, and most importantly, having fun. There's no limit to the amount of success waiting for you in your future, and as your parents, we know that you'll find it._

_Love,_

_Mom & Dad_

_P.S. – Your uncle wanted us to send you a gift to congratulate you on your exam performance. Make good use of them!_

I folded up the letter and sighed, reminiscing of my days back home with my parents. Remembering the vacations we would go on together, the fights we would get in, and most vividly, the amount of dedication they put into helping me build my card collection. It probably sounds cheesy, but without my parents, I knew full well that I would never have amounted to anything, let alone reach the potential I was told I had today in the field of dueling. I clenched my fists again, knowing that I had to defeat Mindy and Jasmine and retrieve my collection, my heritage, the one heirloom of mine that represented my entire past.

I re-read the letter and noticed the postscript, prompting me to check the envelope. I shook it over my bed, causing three Duel Monster cards to flutter out and land face-up on the bed. My eyes went wide with astonishment as I read the names and effects of the three new additions to my collection. I now realized that with these cards, my task of recovering what was taken from me would be a much easier task.


	12. Reclaiming an Heirloom

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 12 – RECLAIMING AN HEIRLOOM_**

I took the three cards my uncle had sent me and mixed them into my deck, hoping that they would become as useful as they seemed. I checked the time and set out for the duel arena once again. It was getting dark, so I knew this duel would have to be relatively quick if I wanted to get any sleep for Wednesday's classes. Kicking open the doors, I found Mindy and Jasmine already there, waiting for my arrival. My card collection sat waiting for me on the sidelines, and Alexis was watching intently from the stands.

"You better keep your end of the bargain after I obliterate you," I snarled with narrowed eyes. Mindy and Jasmine giggled wildly, obviously thinking I didn't have a chance.

"Right, like a Slifer is going to beat TWO Obelisks at the same time!" Jasmine laughed, readying their dueling devices. I sighed, figuring that they were too busy reading magazines to see the tournament on the first day. I irritably locked my deck into the device strapped to my arm and stepped up to the dueling ring.

"Let's get this over with," I growled. "I have classes tomorrow."

"Fine," Mindy shot back. "And the handicap rules?" I pulled out my notepad from my pocket and began to read off the list of custom rules.

"Our turns are taken much like a tag team duel," I explained. "It will be as if I am two people. But since my 'teammate' and I have a much stronger mental bond, so to speak, I am still only permitted five zones of each type, as well as being limited to the normal amount of 4000 Life Points instead of a team total of 8000. Clear?"

Mindy and Jasmine nodded in understanding, visibly more confident than ever. Each of us drew five cards to start off our hands, the Life Points were set, and Alexis declared the start of the duel.

"DUEL!"

_Mindy/Jasmine **8000 ** – Alistair **4000 ** _

Mindy took the first turn and drew her sixth card, beginning with a summon.

"Shining Angel (1400 / 800), attack mode!" she shouted, calling a winged spirit in white garbs to the field. "I'll play one face-down card too, and end my turn!"

A set card shined and appeared behind the summoned angel, what I figured to be a trap. I drew one card and looked over my hand. None of my special cards had turned up yet, but I figured it was only a matter of time before I could unleash their powers. I opted to start things simple.

"I'll throw down a face-down card as well, and then bring out my Skilled Dark Magician (1900 / 1700)!" I declared, calling upon a monster many had seen me use before. I glanced at my face-down card and then at Mindy's figuring the risk was worth a shot.

"Attack! Destroy that Shining Angel!" I commanded my Magician, as the enemy was blasted to pieces by a beam of purple and black light. The damage carried over, and Mindy and Jasmine's Life Points decreased to 7500.

_Mindy/Jasmine **7500 ** – Alistair **4000 ** _

"Since you destroyed my Shining Angel," Mindy interrupted, "I'll activate her ability! Now I can automatically summon any Light monster from my deck, as long as it has 1500 attack points or less, so I summon Maiden of the Moonlight (1500 / 1300) to take its place!"

Another angel materialized onto the field in place of the destroyed Shining Angel. This one looked similar from what I could tell, except it was female and seemed to be controlling some sort of golden orb of energy. So far I had seen only Light-type monsters, and I wanted to wait a bit longer before I felt it was safe to make Mindy and Jasmine pay the price for skipping out on my tournament run. I looked down at my hand and shrugged, deciding to save further strategies for later.

"I'll end my turn with that," I concluded, waiting to see what Jasmine had up her sleeve. She smiled as she drew a card to add to her hand, and looked over at Mindy, nodding.

"I summon Hoshiningen (500 / 700) in attack mode!" she announced, calling what looked like a yellow star cutout with boots and colorful streamers fluttering around it. Jasmine went on to explain its special effect.

"As long as Hoshiningen is on the field, all Light monsters get 500 more attack points!" she stated, as the Maiden of the Moonlight and Hoshiningen both raised their attack powers to 2000 and 1000, respectively.

"And that's not all!" Mindy added after I winced, knowing my Skilled Dark Magician was now overpowered. "All Dark-type monsters have their attack power LOWERED by 400 points!" I grumbled incoherently, my Magician now having only 1500 attack points following Hoshiningen's ability. It seemed Jasmine wasn't done, however.

"And to protect my Hoshiningen, I equip him with this! Heart of Clear Water!" she continued, using a spell card that turned Hoshiningen slightly transparent. "When Hoshiningen is equipped with this, he can't be destroyed in battle or by spell cards that target him! So he's here to stay! That ends my turn."

I narrowed my eyes, annoyed at such a stubborn spell card. Of course, by my Magician's effect, he gained one spell counter for the activation of Heart of Clear Water, but I had more crucial matters to deal with. I drew my next card and smiled at my luck. It would cost me my Skilled Dark Magician, but it would get rid of that pesky Hoshiningen.

"First I play one face-down, and then I sacrifice my Skilled Dark Magician," I started off, "so I can summon my _Cybernetic_ Magician (2400 / 1000)!" Mindy looked peeved, but I reassured her. "Don't worry, I'm not touching your Maiden. I'm going after that Hoshiningen!" Jasmine laughed confidently.

"Yeah right, I already told you, you can't destroy Hoshiningen when it's equipped with Heart of Clear Water!" she informed me again. I countered by explaining my new Magician's effect.

"That is true, but unfortunately, Heart of Clear Water only works on monsters with less than 1300 attack points," I told her with a smile. "And by discarding one card from my hand, my Cybernetic Magician has the ability to set one monster's attack power to 2000!"

Declaring Hoshiningen as my target, I sent a single card to my graveyard and increased its attack power to 2000, thereby causing Jasmine's Heart of Clear Water to shatter. Now the coast was clear.

"And since my Cybernetic Magician is a Light-type monster as well, his attack power increases to 2900!" I shouted. "Now attack and destroy that Hoshiningen!"

My Magician slammed a brilliant beam of light into Hoshiningen, smashing it into nothing but stardust. As a side effect, Mindy and Jasmine's Life Points dropped further to 6600.

_Mindy/Jasmine **6600 ** – Alistair **4000 ** _

"I'm not finished!" I shouted, revealing my face-down card. "I activate the trap card, Magician's Circle! Now we can each summon one Spellcaster monster with an attack power of 2000 or less and summon it to the field."

I fanned out my deck and selected the card I wanted, laughing quietly to myself as Mindy and Jasmine desperately checked their cards three times over. Obviously, neither of them HAD any Spellcasters in their decks.

"What a shame, it seems you don't have the necessary monsters for my Magician's Circle trap," I teased them. "Oh well, you'll have to live without. But for now, I summon my Dark Magician Girl (2000 / 1700)!"

The playful and giggle-happy Dark Magician Girl warped into view through my Magician's Circle card, joining my Cybernetic Magician on my front line. I looked back down at my hand, my fingers dancing on yet another card.

"Dark Magician Girl, destroy that Maiden of the Moonlight!" I ordered, watching her gather a ball of pink energy in her wand and hurdle it at the Maiden of the Moonlight. The explosion blew the monster away, shaving Mindy and Jasmine's LP down to 6100 to boot.

_Mindy/Jasmine **6100 ** – Alistair **4000 ** _

"Feeling outnumbered?" I taunted them. Mindy waved the dust away and activated her face down card.

"I activate Option Hunter!" she countered. "Now Jazz and I regain Life Points equal to the attack power of the monster you just destroyed!" I snorted in amusement and activated my face-down card: Trap Jammer.

"Do you really think I'm that naïve?" I laughed, as Option Hunter shattered and disappeared, getting a frustrated glance from the two girls. "Oh, come on now," I assured them with a flicker of sarcasm. "Besides, you won't be outnumbered as badly anymore, because I'm sacrificing both my Cybernetic Magician and my Dark Magician Girl!"

They watched in bewilderment as my two Magicians dissolved into dust. With an exuberant motion, I played their replacement.

"Now I call forth my Sorcerer of Dark Magic (3200 / 2800)!" I yelled, the familiar black-cloaked mage taking to the field. Of course, it wasn't familiar to Mindy and Jasmine, since they foolishly skipped out on the tournament.

"By the looks on your faces, I can tell you have no idea what his special ability is," I snickered, making them even angrier. "As long as I have my Sorcerer over here, I can negate and destroy any trap cards you activate! Consider yourself lucky… you two don't seem to know much about strategy, so I've taken away your ability to strategize."

Being the arrogant duelist I was (hey, it's the heat of the moment), I laughed slyly at their predicament. I looked at the final card in my hand.

"I'll toss this face-down and end my turn," I added, giving Mindy a shot. She drew a card and looked over what she could do. Finally, she saw a card she needed and smiled deviously.

"Hey Jazz," she asked her friend. "Got the spell I need over there?" Jasmine looked at her hand and nodded, somehow knowing what Mindy was talking about. Mindy finally played a spell of her own.

"I use the magic card, Exchange!" she announced. "Normally this would let us see each other's hands and we would exchange one of our cards. But since there's three people here, I'm going to exchange cards with Jazz, just like best friends should!"

I tried not to vomit at the supremely cheesy friendship quip, and watched as Mindy and Jasmine showed each other their hands and traded one card from each. Mindy couldn't have been happier.

"Thanks, Jazz!" she chimed. "Now I can play the ritual card she gave me, Shinato's Ark!"

I raised an eyebrow, pondering just what these scheming girls were up to now. She held up a pair of monsters – Bountiful Artemis and Spirit of the Harp – and sent them straight to her graveyard. I counted eight stars total… this was going to be ugly.

"By sacrificing those two monsters, I can Ritual Summon this! Shinato, King of a Higher Plane (3300 / 3000)!" Mindy bellowed with triumph. I was soon staring down a giant golden-winged warrior, dressed in a royal white cloak. He descended onto the field before Mindy and Jasmine, who now already seemed to be thinking of which cards of mine they wanted the most. I simply narrowed my eyes and clenched my fist tightly.

"Shinato, attack his Sorcerer!" she commanded. I would have activated my Elemental Absorber trap at that point, but I needed a monster card to use it, and unfortunately, my hand was empty. I could only watch as Shinato blasted my Sorcerer with a fierce light burst that left me blinded for a few moments, thus putting a mild dent in my Life Points which now sat at 3900.

_Mindy/Jasmine **6100 ** – Alistair **3900 ** _

"That's all for me!" Mindy sang happily. "Your turn, Alistair. Or you could just give up!"

I laughed at that remark, refusing to surrender to Alexis's dimwitted roommates. I told myself to forever respect Jaden's intelligence after meeting _those_ two. I drew my next card, and raised an eyebrow. For the second time, I had drawn this card in the perfect situation.

"I play one monster in defense mode," I declared. "That's all I need."

Jasmine was next, and she drew her card. Thankfully she didn't have control over Shinato, so I was safe for this turn at least.

"I summon Majestic Mech - Senku (1800 / 1050) in attack mode!" she proclaimed. Another Fairy-type monster was called to the field, bearing white and blue wings and a robotic appearance. "Attack that face-down monster!" was her declaration, as the Majestic Mech slammed a ball of white lightning into my defense monster, which was none other than the Morphing Jar.

"Surprise," I said with a smile as the Morphing Jar was obviously destroyed. But along with it, the cards Mindy and Jasmine held were destroyed as well. "By activating my Morphing Jar's effect," I explained to them, "our hands are sent to the graveyard, and we each draw five new cards."

The two girls obeyed and now had five cards in their deck. I again had nothing to discard, so skipped right to the drawing. And what a draw it was. I suppressed my smile and gave my best poker face to Jasmine.

"Are you finished?" I asked politely. Jasmine was still staring at her cards. I guess she got a bad draw, but it hardly mattered.

"Fine, I end my turn," she caved, causing the Majestic Mech to vanish into the graveyard because of its effect. "But Mindy will still obliterate you!"

I laughed and drew my next card.

"I'm afraid she won't get another turn," I shot back confidently. Mindy and Jasmine stared at me incredulously.

"You're bluffing!" they shouted together.

"Am I?" I asked them with a pleasant grin on my face. I shook my hair out of my face before grasping the card I held on the far right – one of the three cards my uncle had bestowed upon me earlier this evening.

"You two are in luck," I chimed. "Just before I came here, I got a letter from my parents. The letter was nice, but what I also got were three brand new cards. Three cards no one has ever seen me use. Hell, **I've** never even seen me use them before."

I took the first of three family presents from my hand and played it.

"Now here's the first one!" I bellowed at them. "A brand new addition to the game of Duel Monsters! I play the magic card, Trusting the Deck!"

If Mindy and Jasmine were perplexed before, their expressions of obliviousness far surpassed that mark. I laughed and shook my head.

"I don't expect you to know what it does," I told them. "It was just created mere hours ago by Pegasus himself. And I've got one of, if not the, first copy of it. Now, ready for its effects? First I pay the price for its use… I send all cards from my hand and field to the graveyard, and then reduce my Life Points by 2500!"

_Mindy/Jasmine **6100 ** – Alistair **1400 ** _

I ditched the five remaining cards in my hand, while my Elemental Absorber card rose and shattered. Also as declared, my Life Points decreased to 1400.

"Why did I do all that, you ask?" I teased. "Well I'll show you. Trusting the Deck allows me to make all those sacrifices in the name of the trust I have in my cards. So now my deck rewards me for my sacrifice, by allowing me to draw ANY THREE CARDS I want!!"

Mindy and Jasmine went from puzzlement to shock, as I fanned out my deck and selected the three cards I needed to end the game.

"Now with that out of the way, the REAL fun begins!" I continued. "I remove Dark Magician Girl, Sorcerer of Dark Magic, Skilled Dark Magician, Mystical Elf, Magician of Faith, and Cybernetic Magician from the game!"

I played the first card, one of my favorites.

"I now summon the one and only Chaos Sorcerer (2300 / 2000)!" I declared, the heart and soul of my deck taking shape before me. But I certainly wasn't finished – not after removing six monsters from my graveyard.

"Now you have the privilege of meeting the two OTHER cards my uncle presented me with!" I kept shouting, my throat starting to ache. "Meet Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (3000 / 2500), and Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End (3000 / 2500)!!"

Mindy and Jasmine now seemed unconcerned, and I had a feeling I knew why.

"Have you forgotten that Shinato has 3300 attack points?" Mindy giggled. "You know… more than all of YOUR monsters?"

I was pretty fed up with these two. I imitated Mindy's ridiculous giggling and replied with, "Have you forgotten that Chaos Sorcerer can instantly remove monsters from play?"

Now they were scared. I love this game.

"Chaos Sorcerer, remove Shinato from the game!" I hollered in victory. The Chaos Sorcerer fired a twin blast of light and dark energy at Shinato, circling him in a double-helix field that completely warped him off of the field.

I continued with the assault: "Now, Black Luster Soldier, Chaos Emperor Dragon, the field is clear, so attack them directly!" The Black Luster Soldier crushed Mindy with its holographic blade, while the Chaos Emperor Dragon belched merciless waves of fire at Jasmine. When all was said and done, their Life Points cumulatively plummeted to a mere 100.

_Mindy/Jasmine **0100 ** – Alistair **1400 ** _

"Oh, then there's my Dragon's special effect, which I'll gladly pay 1000 Life Points for," I finished, allowing my Life Points to drop to 400.

_Mindy/Jasmine **0100 ** – Alistair **0400 ** _

The Chaos Emperor Dragon then froze and suddenly exploded, engulfing the entire field in the blast. The smoke took quite some time to clear, but when it did, Mindy and Jasmine were sprawled out on the floor, the cards in their hands strewn over themselves and the duel ring.

_Mindy/Jasmine **0000 ** – Alistair **0400 ** _

"By destroying every card on the field and in our hands, you lose 300 Life Points for each one," I quietly explained as Alexis rushed to help her friends up. "13 cards for 3900 points of damage. I think that would be enough."

I was tired and somewhat angry, so I didn't bother with the niceties. I merely stepped out of the dueling ring and picked my my card collection before heading for the door.

"Hey! Alistair!" they called after me. I stopped, albeit reluctantly, and turned around to see Mindy and Jasmine rushing up to me.

"…We're sorry," Jasmine finally said, prompting an eyebrow raise from me. "You're… really good."

I blinked a couple of times, and Mindy nodded in eager agreement.

"…Thank you," I eventually replied. "But steal my cards again and I'll come looking for them. And I won't be nearly as happy as I was today."

I continued to head for my dorm with my cards in tow, never looking back. If I had, I would have probably fallen over laughing from the look on Alexis's face. Her plan had at least been partially foiled this time, and the ball was now back in my court.

I wonder what Atticus is doing tomorrow.

---

Author's Note 2: "Trusting the Deck" is a magic card I made up, so don't go looking for one. XD


	13. The Perfect Opportunity

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

Author's Note 2: For future reference, the card I created in the previous chapter is explained here in its entirety…

**Trusting the Deck** (Normal Magic Card): _Pay 2500 Life Points. Send all cards on your side of the field and in your hand to the graveyard and add any three cards from your deck to your hand. After resolving this card's effect, remove it from play._

**_CHAPTER 13 – THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY_**

I woke up the next morning with a great deal more enthusiasm than before, mainly because I had reclaimed my prized card collection, foiled Alexis's plans, and obtained three of the rarest and most lethal cards in Duel Monsters all in the same day. There was a spring in my step that many noticed, but only Mindy, Jasmine, and Alexis knew why. Somehow this newfound passion I had unearthed enabled me to pay attention to the entire Ancient Egyptian History class, although I suppose the constant restless whispering that went on as Banner lectured us would have stirred me occasionally.

Word quickly spread that I possessed the two Envoy cards. Apparently some people would do anything to get them, as I received quite a surprising number of ludicrous bribes for my Black Luster Soldier and Chaos Emperor Dragon. My Trusting the Deck magic card went relatively unnoticed, however, likely due to its steep price and limited usability. I held onto my three cards, of course, politely turning down any offers I was given. By the time classes ended for the day, people were suddenly offering to duel me for them. Even Chazz was in on the hype.

"Would you get off my leg, please?" I seethed, trying to shake off the desperate kid clinging to my leg.

"C'mon Alistair! One duel! Just one!" Chazz begged. "I need that Dragon!"

"I said OFF, Princeton!" I shouted, giving one final lunge that smacked Chazz back against the lockers. "I'm not interested in exchanging cards, and even less interested in wagering them. My uncle specifically gave them to me, so my guess is he wanted ME to hang on to them." Chazz looked as if he was going to persist when Atticus showed up out of nowhere.

"Hey Alistair! Been looking for you!" he greeted me. Chazz was on his feet, visibly upset.

"Beat it, Rhodes! I asked him first!" he argued. Atticus just stared at him and blinked. "What?"

"Atticus, if this is about your sister or my new cards, the answer is no," I sighed, the fun quickly being sucked out of my day.

"Well, does getting back at Alexis again count?" he asked me with a smirk. I laughed quietly and walked down the hall, Atticus following.

"Go on," I told him, listening intently until I crossed another stack of school newspapers. I snagged one off the top and glanced at the cover page, seeing a massive collage of various Duel Monsters on the front. The headline interested me, and I cut Atticus off in mid-sentence.

"What have we here?" I mused. "Duel Monster Spirit Day, this weekend. Hmm."

"Oh yeah, we have it every year," Atticus explained. "Everyone dresses up as their favorite Duel Monster… Alexis and her roommates usually go as the Harpie Lady sisters. There's a big carnival on campus, and even a Costume Duel. There's always some rumors flying around that the spirit of the Dark Magician Girl appears every year on that day."

My eyebrows raised with intrigue. "Is that so?" I asked rhetorically, another cunning smile appearing across my face. "I believe I may be on to something, Atticus."

I tossed the newspaper back onto the pile and began writing things down in my notepad yet again. Atticus tried to look over my shoulder at what I was writing.

"So what's your plan?" he inquired with curiosity. I covered up the notepad, keeping it out of his sight.

"Your sister is going as a Harpie Lady, right?" I said, my twisted smile getting broader. Atticus nodded in confirmation, and nearly exploded in laughter when I showed him the diagram I just drew.

"We're going to give Alexis a head start this weekend," I snickered.

"You, my man, are a genius," Atticus complimented, patting me on the shoulder. "Let's get to work."

We set off to gather supplies for our most ingenious plot yet, and for the next two and half days Atticus and I spent our free time in the Slifer Red dorm, expanding on how the prank was to be set up. I don't want to go into detail, because it would ruin the surprise.

"Saturday afternoon, Alexis will be the best Harpie Lady in Duel Academy," Atticus laughed mischeviously.

For the remainder of Friday afternoon, Atticus and I parted so we could each make our own costume. From what I heard, he was going as the White Magical Hat, and I, of course, was going as the Chaos Sorcerer. Being the gifted designer I was, I set out to make my costume as accurate as possible. The black robes and mask were styled to perfection, I admired, as the leather I made it out of gleamed beautifully in the light, just like the monster's wardrobe itself. I crafted the metal accessories the Sorcerer wore out of cardboard and covered it with gold foil, since I wasn't exactly a welder or anything. The parts of the costume I held the most pride for were the gloves, which required the help of Banner and Sheppard to make. They were regular leather gloves, but I had the material covered with tiny light bulbs – white ones on the right hand glove, and purple ones on the left hand. They were all powered by a nine-volt battery which I added into little pockets I made by cutting open the wrist ends of each glove. After donning the entire costume, it seemed to work perfectly. The robes were a perfect match, and the lit-up gloves were an excellent substitute for the searing flames of light and dark energy that the Chaos Sorcerer wielded with its hands.

It certainly looks splendid," Sheppard complimented when it was complete. Banner nodded in agreement. "Yes, it should definitely turn some heads tomorrow!"

I thanked them for their help and changed back into my regular silver uniform after they had left. Picking up the mattress on my bed, I withdrew the plans I had set up for Alexis tomorrow, as well as the walkie-talkie I used last time.

"Silver to Blue," I spoke into it. "Commence with Draw Phase."

Atticus confirmed, and the line went silent. I tossed the walkie-talkie onto the nearby desk, draped my Chaos Sorcerer costume over the chair, and flopped down onto my bed, anticipating the strike Atticus and I would launch tomorrow. Alexis would once again feel my wrath on Duel Monster Spirit Day.


	14. Spirit Day Dramatics

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 14 – SPIRIT DAY DRAMATICS _**

The sun rose, and for some reason I was being shaken awake.

"It's Saturday, no classes today," I murmured groggily, pulling the covers over my head. "Go away Jaden."

"I'm not Jaden," came the reply, "and you're gonna miss out on all the fun today if you don't get up." I flipped the covers off my head. That voice seemed oddly familiar. Imagine my utter surprise when my eyes opened to the sight of Alexis standing over my bed. I immediately flew out of bed, taking half the sheets with me and tumbling with a thud onto the ground. During that time, I'm not sure WHAT I said, but from the look on Alexis's face and the fact I could hear a car alarm going off (who drives cars on an island anyway?) I could safely assume it contained one or more inappropriate words. I managed to scramble to my feet, somehow, and draped the sheets over me in horror.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE!" I shouted from within my bedspread cocoon. "I AM NOT CLOTHED! OUT!"

"Okay, okay," Alexis said in a futile attempt to calm me down. "Just hurry up." Alexis grinned and stepped out of my room, shutting the door. I really ought to lock that more often. I rapidly changed into my silver and red overcoat and uniform before reopening the door, appearing somewhat disheveled and unkempt. But who wouldn't in my situation? Alexis giggled amusedly, and I just grumbled and rolled my eyes.

"Now what was the point of waking me at this UNGODLY hour?" I hissed restlessly.

"…Alistair, it's almost 11."

"Well it's 2 in the morning somewhere else!"

Alexis was persistent. She narrowed her eyes at me, as if studying my face would make me easier to deal with.

"You're going to miss the carnival though!" she complained. "Everyone's going. You should be there, Alistair."

"Sleep takes priority over carnivals," I insisted, opening my dorm doorway again and walking in. At least, I was walking until Alexis snagged my jacket and pulled me back.

"How about this?" she offered. "We'll play cards over it. If you win, you can go back to sleep, but if I win, you have to go with me to the carnival until it ends. Deal?"

I thought carefully at the proposition. Maybe my Envoy cards would teach her a thing or two about disrupting my rest.

"Fine," I agreed, and let her into my dorm.

---

"I win again!" Alexis cheered, gathering up all the cards that lay on the floor. I stared down at the pile, clearly displeased. She was sneakier than I thought, challenging me to a game I didn't even know how to play. What the hell is an Egyptian Rat Screw anyway?

"This is ridiculous," I argued with her, which only further humored her. "I don't even know how to play this game!"

"You agreed to play cards," she told me. "I never said it was Duel Monsters." I let out a defeated sigh and delved back into my thoughts for a brief moment. The carnival ended at 4, and the Costume Duel wasn't until 5, giving everyone an hour to get ready. I figured I could survive until then, but Atticus would likely be concerned. Either that or he would assume I was dating his sister and be overjoyed. Regardless, I would be getting a chat with him in the coming hours, one I was not exactly looking forward to. I crossed my arms, pouting like a little kid who was getting dragged to run errands. Because let's be serious, that was essentially the situation I had been put in. I made a last ditch effort to prolong the inevitable.

"Best out of thirty-seven?" I asked weakly. Alexis shook her head and began to drag me out of the dorm. "We're going."

---

If people weren't jealous of my Envoy cards, then they were most certainly jealous of how the Queen of Obelisk Blue was leading me all over the carnival as if I were on a leash. I'd have to admit, the carnival was rather entertaining. I'm still not quite sure how they convinced Crowler to be in the dunk tank, but figured by day's end the world would finally see what he looked like without makeup. I periodically checked my watch to stay updated on the time, and on occasion I could see Jaden, Syrus, Tyranno, and Bastion working on the massive poster that advertised the costume duel. Still itching to break away from my pact with Alexis, I tried to mouth a "HELP ME" to Jaden as he saw us pass by. What a stupid idea.

"What's that Alistair?" he shouted at me, prompting Alexis to whirl around and give me this disappointed look of betrayal. Jaden, you truly take the concept of idiocy to an entirely new level. I quickly formed the perfect excuse.

"I just wanted to check out that poster," I lied, leading Alexis over to the giant portrait that featured the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl standing side by side, as if ready for battle. I dug into my pocket and found my card deck, which I flipped through and pulled out the same two cards.

"Impressive work," I praised, comparing the card images to the ones that had been crafted on the poster. "Someone certainly has talent."

"Ahh, it was way better when Chumley made it," Syrus responded humbly.

"So who's going to be in the Costume Duel?" I questioned, my curiosity overcoming me. I got my answer when a short chubby man with a ridiculous moustache and an odd fascination with French phrases tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a sheet of paper.

"That's for YOU to determine, garçon!" he said to me. I rose an eyebrow and stared at the paper, which seemed to be a sign-up sheet, as the strange little man ranted on.

"Chancellor Sheppard has assigned you to take care of the entry process for this year's Costume Duel," he explained. "You're also charged with the task of picking out two opponents who would make a _très bien_ match for our students to enjoy!" I looked at my watch again, noting that it was nearly 3. Sign-ups were apparently held for an hour, followed by a break for everyone to change into their Duel Monster costumes. I obviously didn't have a choice, so I accepted the task. Hell, it would get me away from all this insanity an hour earlier. The wannabe Frenchman waddled away, and I turned back to Jaden, Alexis, and the others.

"Who the heck was that?" was all I could ask.

"Vice Chancellor Bonaparte," Bastion answered me. "He usually doesn't like Slifers… I suppose your uniform threw him off." I stared back down at the table Bonaparte had given me.

"Hey Alistair, help us put up this poster!" Jaden called. My hand holding the sheet dropped and I sighed. The six of us carried the poster over to the outdoor duel ring that had been marked out and propped it up near the stands, just behind the sign-up table Crowler and Banner carried out. I figured I would be here for some time, so I rushed back to the Slifer Red dorm, grabbed one of my token newspapers and a chair, and took my place behind the sign-up table.

I didn't really pay much attention, what with my feet kicked up on the table, my chair tipped backwards, and the daily Sudoku puzzle absorbing my attention, but every so often I would notice the list of signatures get slightly longer as I peeked over the top of the newspaper. Some people were starting to change into their costumes, I realized, and considered breaking early. I finished up my Sudoku puzzle when my attention was caught by a chippery high-pitched voice.

"Is this the sign-up table for the Costume Duel?" I was asked. I gazed up at the girl who stood in front of the table, and nearly fell out of my chair. My eyes widened in surprise as I quickly dug out my deck and flipped through to find the card I was looking for.

The Dark Magician Girl. The rumors were true. I put my deck away and brought my chair back down to all fours and blinked at the girl before me. Blue and pink armor, helmet and all, it was definitely her.

"Done this before, have you?" I asked, causing her to smile.

"It's my favorite time of year!" she answered happily. I laughed quietly and slid the sign-up sheet across the table. I chuckled again and added, "I wouldn't sign as Dark Magician Girl, by the way."

She playfully stuck her tongue out at me and signed her real name, the one I remembered from Egyptian History class the week before: Mana.

"Better?" she asked with a wink. I nodded and folded up the sheet.

"Try not to get in too much trouble," I laughed, heading back off to the Slifer Red dorm with a wave. Mana smiled and literally disappeared in a shower of sparkles.

No, I didn't take any hallucinogens that morning.

Returning to my dorm, I changed into my Chaos Sorcerer outfit and decided to put it on display. Alexis was still in her Obelisk Blue uniform, thankfully. I still had the walkie-talkie on me.

"Silver to Blue, Standby Phase complete," I spoke. "Proceed to Main Phase." I looked around and smiled as I saw Atticus far in the distance, waving at me from the roof of the Obelisk girls' dorm. I'll never know how he managed to get up there. He had two barrels with him, concealed cleverly behind a pair of fireplaces. I silently hoped he was fast enough. I approached Alexis and put my arm around her shoulder.

"Alexis, shouldn't you go get changed into your costume?" I asked her innocently. "It's getting a bit late… the duel starts in just one hour. I can walk you back to your dorm."

I thought I could see her slightly blush, but she accepted.

"Uh… sure Alistair," she answered, following me as we set off to the girls' dorm. As we drew nearer, I started up conversation again.

"I must admit, I was surprised today," I told her. "The carnival was a lot better than I thought. I really ought to thank you for being so… well, persistent."

Alexis laughed and responded with a simple, "You're welcome, Alistair."

We reached the entrance to the dorm, and we faced each other. Alexis was nearly beaming at me from my sudden friendliness. I leaned in close and whispered, "But this doesn't make up for the pink walls."

I quickly backed away, just in time as Atticus dumped the first barrel, covering a shocked Alexis in gallons of maple syrup. He quickly followed up with the second barrel, a bombardment of feathers. As I had planned, Alexis would be the best Harpie Lady of the afternoon. I smiled and laughed, once again stepping toward the poor Obelisk Queen.

"Next time you steal my cards, I'll make sure you pay an even steeper price," I told her harmoniously. At that moment, I leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, leaving her even more speechless.

"Enjoy the Costume Duel," I concluded, giving her a polite bow and walking back off toward the duel ring, where people were already starting to gather.


	15. The Costume Duel

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 15 – THE COSTUME DUEL _**

Damn it. Atticus saw the whole thing. Now he refuses to leave me alone once again, patting me on the back and telling me that dating Alexis would be good for her.

"We're not dating, Atticus," I growled at him. "She beat me at some stupid card game that wasn't Duel Monsters and dragged me all over the carnival."

"But you kissed her, didn't you?"

"On the CHEEK."

"Well, _I_ think it counts."

"If _you _saw me holding hands with her you'd be making wedding arrangements!"

The two of us continued to argue until we reached the duel ring, where Syrus was setting up microphones and Chazz was trying keep his balance. As if the XYZ-Dragon Cannon costume I heard he wore last year wasn't massive enough for him, this year he was the VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon, a getup that really tempted me to push him over just to see if he was capable of getting back up. Syrus was dressed up as a Drillroid, complete with a drill-shaped hat and wheel-shaped gloves. I guess he forgot he would be handling a microphone today. Or would he?

"Is she here? Did anybody see her??" Syrus was asking eagerly when Jaden and the rest of his gang went to check how he and Chazz were coming along. Jaden apparently never bothered with costumes – I heard that last year his was a total disaster. Tyranno was dressed like Black Tyranno, unsurprisingly, and Bastion

"Sorry Sy," Jaden apologized, "we haven't seen the Dark Magician Girl anywhere today." I stood there silently, my mind working madly to find a way to manipulate this situation into something to my advantage. ……………Ding.

"Hello Syrus," I greeted, joining the group in their discussion. "I was just wondering… why didn't you sign up for the Costume Duel?"

"Oh, I have to do the play-by-play," Syrus answered. "Besides, I'm not very good…"

"Hmm," I pondered, looking over the list. "That is odd though. I mean, with the Dark Magician Girl being your opponent and all…"

"WHAT?" he shouted, leaping to his feet. I flipped the sign-up sheet over and pointed at where Mana had signed, and under the costume column, she of course had written "Dark Magician Girl".

"Mana?" he asked quizzically. I laughed, responding with, "It's her real name. Don't you pay attention in Egyptian History class?" If Syrus's eyes were capable of turning into little throbbing hearts, they likely would have at that point in time. He stared lovestruck at the sign-up sheet, letting out a long sigh that sounded like "Mana……"

"Snap out of it," I interrupted. "Besides, you have to do _play-by-play_." I made sure to use a mocking voice for added annoyance, but then followed up with a sly grin.

"Unless…"

"Unless what?" Syrus questioned. "You can get me into the duel? You can find me a replacement for the play-by-play??" I smiled and looked around, spotting the pile of scrap metal that was Chazz.

"Princeton!" I shouted, getting his attention. He stomped over in his giant metal costume shoes, and I could have sworn I felt the ground tremble with each of his footsteps.

"What do you want now, Silver Slifer?" he sneered. I rolled my eyes, wondering when he would ever get tired of that stupid nickname.

"You're covering for Syrus for play-by-play," I told him. "Sy's dueling. Fine with you?"

"What?!" he spat. "Then who's gonna do the commentary?" I grinned with anticipation before answering, "Alexis will."

"Lexi as my broadcast partner??" Chazz chimed, about as lovestruck as Syrus. I would kick him in the balls to snap him out of it, if his entire body wasn't decked out in steel like a Megazord. I took his dream-like state to be an agreement.

"Looks like you're in," I told Syrus, who was now ecstatic. I crumpled up the sign-up sheet and tossed it over my shoulder before heading off to the stands where Crowler and Atticus awaited.

"So how's my soon-to-be brother-in-law doing?" Atticus laughed, getting a dark glare out of me. Crowler appeared rightfully puzzled.

"Mr. Rhodes?" he inquired in perplexity as I took my place in the stands beside the two. I turned toward Atticus and gave him a sharp, "I told you, Alexis and I are NOT DATING."

"You and Alexis are DATING?" Crowler yelped. My fists clenched in frustration.

"We are NOT dating!" I fumed, getting Atticus and Crowler to back off. More and more people began to fill the seats as time went on, and I noticed that it was nearly 5 already. I heard a voice call my name from behind me, so I turned around to see Mana there, an excited smile on her face.

"Is it almost time for the duel?" she asked eagerly. Atticus turned around as well, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.

"It's you!" he gasped. "The rumors ARE true!"

Mana smiled sweetly, and I hopped off the stands to lead her to the duel ring, where the crowd immediately responded to her appearance with deafening cheers. Unfortunately once we were inside the ring, I noticed Syrus had gone missing.

"Hey, Alistair!" Jaden shouted, running up to me. "Whoa, you really DID get the Dark Magician Girl! Long time no duel!" Mana giggled and waved, while I was scanning the area.

"Where the hell is Syrus?" I asked impatiently, crossing my arms. "Don't tell me he's too shy to duel Mana." After a moment, I finally spotted him, peeking out from near the bleachers in timidity. I covered my eyes with my hand in aggravation and led Mana over to him. He blushed deeply and waved at his crush.

"Mana, meet your opponent," I sighed. "Or at least he should be."

I turned and looked back at the crowd, which was gradually getting impatient and began chanting for a duel. I saw Mana kneel down next to Syrus and encourage him.

"C'mon Sy, it'll be fun!" she insisted. "Please? For me?"

Brilliant. No way Syrus would say no to THAT.

"Well… okay… for you, Dark Magician Girl," he finally said with a weak smile.

"You can call me Mana," she answered sweetly, standing back up. I decided to break the sentimental moment by reminding them that the natives were getting restless.

"Ready to go?" I asked them both. They each nodded, and I sent them off to Sheppard to get their duel disks. As for me, I went back to the stands with Atticus, nearly falling off laughing when I saw Alexis come out in her Harpie Lady costume, still trying to fix her hair from the syrup attack. Then Chazz made the announcement that sealed it.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Duel Academy, let's give a warm welcome to my heavenly goddess of an assistant, Miss Alexis Rhodes!" Alexis immediately froze in place as the crowd cheered, and she immediately gave Chazz a glare that could turn Jaden's Flame Wingman to stone. I laughed and waved back innocently, leaning over to Atticus and whispering, "You know, somehow I always knew that Chazz was suicidal."

Atticus and I laughed heartily as Alexis marched over to the broadcast table, ready to claw Chazz to death.


	16. Alistair's Intervention

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 16 – ALISTAIR'S INTERVENTION_**

Oh lucky me. Alexis, in such a rage, really gave Chazz a bad smacking – so bad, in fact, that he was carted off to the hospital wing. Strangely this got absolutely no reaction from the teachers. I guess they too realized that every idiotic action has its price. However, now I was stuck with the task of doing the commentary with Alexis, and she wasn't exactly pleased with my trickery either. I reluctantly made my way down to the broadcast table, and grinned sheepishly at Alexis.

"Hi?" was all that I could say. Alexis's gaze lightened, and my punishment was reduced to a playful shove, which I promptly returned.

"I hate doing commentary," I grumbled, crossing my arms. Alexis mimicked my pose and answered, "Well so do I." I narrowed my eyes and ruffled up her hair just out of entertainment.

"You smell nice today," I commented with a smile. "New shampoo?"

"Right, maple-scented, you jerk," Alexis fussed, shoving me again. "I'll get you back one of these days." I smiled and watched as Mana and Syrus equipped their duel disks, standing at opposite sides of the ring.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Alexis announced, "It's time for Duel Academy's annual Costume Duel! On my right, we have Syrus from Slifer Red, representing Drillroid! And on my left, we have Mana, who is none other than the Dark Magician Girl!"

The crowd cheered wildly, but I, not being one for loud hollering and chanting, merely applauded politely. Alexis then pointed the microphone in my face, catching me off guard.

"So Alistair, what's your take on the matchup today?" Alexis asked. I rolled my eyes but figured trying something new couldn't hurt, so I began to speak my mind.

"While I haven't seen the deck Mana uses, I can only assume her area of expertise would be a lot like mine: spellcasters," I explained flatly. "She would likely have her own card, and perhaps a number of supporting spells and traps. Syrus on the other hand, plays a strong Machine-type deck of Roid monsters. While most of the Roid monsters possess a wide array of useful special effects, a Spellcaster deck has a dangerous balance between effects and sheer power."

Alexis blinked at me before retracting the microphone.

"Not a bad analysis," she admitted, getting a smirk out of me. Our attention turned toward the ring, where the duel now began.

_Syrus **4000** – Mana **4000** _

Syrus made the initial move, drawing a card and quickly summoning his Jetroid (1200 / 1800) to the field in defense position. Mana countered with an Element Magician (1500 / 1200), thus confirming my suspicion that the Dark Magician Girl dueled with magicians herself.

"Okay Element Magician, attack that Jetroid!" Mana declared happily, giving me my chance to "commentate" and explain Jetroid's special ability.

"Unfortunately for Mana, when Jetroid is selected as an attack target, its ability kicks in and allows Syrus to activate trap cards straight from his hand," I explained to the spectators. Syrus was indeed aware of this effect, and wasted no time in countering with Supercharge. That, however, did absolutely nothing to prevent his Jetroid from getting blasted to pieces and his Life Points from dropping to 3700.

_Syrus **3700 ** – Mana **4000 ** _

"Since Syrus's only monster is a Machine-type Roid, Supercharge allows him to draw two cards from his deck," I clarified as Syrus drew a pair of cards. "But unfortunately for him, Element Magician has a special effect of its own, dependent on what monster attributes were present on the field."

"That's right!" Mana chimed happily. "And since your Jetroid was a Wind-type, when my Element Magician destroys a monster in a battle, it gets to attack a second time! And this one's a direct attack!"

Syrus, with an empty field, was forced to take the second surging blast from the Element Magician, reducing his Life Points even further to 2300. Mana played with her cards a bit before playing two face-down cards and ending her turn. Control passed to Syrus, who drew a card and seemed to be hesitant.

_Syrus **2300 ** – Mana **4000 ** _

"He's cracking," I whispered to myself. I could only be silent as Syrus replaced his destroyed Jetroid with Drillroid (1600 / 1600). If his hesitancy wasn't enough to prove to me that he wasn't capable of attacking Mana, his verbal stumbling was.

"O-Okay… Att.. Attack that Element Magician!" He eventually forced himself to declare. "I can't watch!"

The Drillroid's attack was successful, shattering the Element Magician and dealing a mild hit to Mana's Life Points which now sat at 3900. Despite only doing 100 damage, Syrus looked like he had just committed first-degree murder.

_Syrus **2300 ** – Mana **3900 ** _

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Are you okay?" he panicked, making me want to pull my hair out of my head. This duel was dragging along endlessly, and it sounded like half the crowd felt the same way. I finally stood up and shouted at Syrus the question I should have asked him before the duel even started.

"Syrus, would you rather step down from this duel?" I asked calmly. All he could do is give Mana a sympathetic look and nod his head at me. I sighed and scratched my head, wondering what I was supposed to do now. Alexis nudged me and made a suggestion.

"Why don't you take Syrus's place?" she said. "At least the crowd will get to see some action."

I grumbled and shrugged. "Might as well," I admitted, grabbing my duel disk and trudged off to where Syrus stood. The two of us shook hands and switched places, Mana's sorrowful eyes following Syrus to the broadcast table. She finally looked back at me, my eyes cold and calculating within the duel ring.

"I'll get him to duel you next year," I apologized. "Consider it a compliment. He couldn't bear to see you in pain." I smirked as we both looked back at Syrus, who was now blushing furiously. I activated my duel disk and looked back over to Mana to explain the new stipulations.

"I'll destroy Syrus's Drillroid since I don't particularly like machines," I stated as Drillroid dissolved and vanished from the field. "Now I'll draw five cards and play as if it were my Main Phase, keeping Syrus's current Life Point total." Mana nodded and chimed, "So what do you have in YOUR deck?"

"Nothing you'll be unfamiliar with," I told her flatly, drawing five cards and fanning them out. Not a bad draw.

_Alistair **2300 ** – Mana **3900 ** _

"I summon Silent Magician, Level 4 (1000 / 1000)," I began, as the short teen-aged magician in white emerged onto my side of the field. "I'll add a pair of face-downs to finish off, and hand control to you, Mana."

"Ooh, magicians!" she giggled, drawing her next card. I interrupted her at that point.

"Now I'll activate my Magician's special ability," I cut in. "For every card you draw, my Silent Magician gains 500 extra attack points!" She never stopped smiling as she pranced in place energetically and continued her turn.

"Okay, I'll summon my Magician's Valkyria (1600 / 1800) in attack mode!" Mana decided, calling forth what I believed to be her twin, if Duel Monster spirits had siblings. The Magician's Valkyria had virtually the same armored uniform Mana was wearing, except she had darker hair and a staff that looked different than what Dark Magician Girl would carry.

"Now Valkyria, attack that Silent Magician!" she ordered, "Then…"

We both spoke the next few sentences in perfect unison, making things strangely awkward.

"I activate the trap card, Magician's Circle!"

"What? You have one too?"

"Stop copying me!"

"I mean it!!"

"…"

We stood there for a moment trying to figure out what just happened. We had both activated the same trap, and my Silent Magician was already destroyed. With my Life Points now sitting at 2200 and Mana's at 3900, we both dug into our decks to find the appropriate monsters.

_Alistair **2200 ** – Mana **3900 ** _

"I suppose we each summon two Spellcasters," I suggested. "So I'll first summon… well… you. The Dark Magician Girl (2000 / 1700)!"

"What a coincidence!" Mana answered with a determined little smile. "I summon a Dark Magician Girl (2000 / 1700) of my own!"

I was smack in the middle of the strangest duel I'd ever participated in. It was as if Mana's deck mirrored mine. Still, I doubted she had cards that could stand up to my more powerful Spellcasters.

"Secondly, I'll summon my Mystical Elf (800 / 2000), attack mode," I countered, adding some company for my Dark Magician Girl. I glanced back over at Mana who was still trying to decide on her next Spellcaster.

"Then I'll summon another Magician's Valkyria (1600 / 1800)!" she declared, a duplicate Valkyria flanking her Dark Magician Girl. "Dark Magician Girl, attack that Mystical Elf!"

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid that's going to cost you," I sighed, signaling for my other face-down card to reveal itself. "I activate one of my favorite traps, Mirror Force!"

In the blink of an eye, the surging blast of pink energy Mana's Dark Magician Girl had launched was rebounded, obliterating her entire front line. I crossed my arms and absorbed the upset shouts of Mana's fanboys as the smoke across the field gradually cleared up. Mana was shielding her eyes from the dust and floating debris, well aware of what was coming.

"Well, then I'll just play one face-down and end my turn!" she concluded. I drew and added a third card to my hand and picked up another one to play.

"This will certainly end quickly, then," I stated sternly. "I activate my first spell card – Heavy Storm!" A massive hurricane-force wind terrorized the field between us, flipping up both of Mana's Trap Cards and destroying them. I continued my assault, playing the card I had just drawn.

"I now play Monster Reborn, in order to summon YOUR Dark Magician Girl!" I declared, stunning the crowd. A second Dark Magician Girl appeared next to my Mystical Elf, and Mana just began to realize the awkwardness of the situation. Her spirit was about to destroy herself.

"Now, Dark Magician Girls! Attack Mana directly!"

Mana helplessly tried to defend herself as a violent explosion blasted her remaining 3900 Life Points away, bringing the Costume Duel to an abrupt conclusion.

_Alistair **2200 ** – Mana **0000 ** _

The crowd was noticeably unhappy, criticizing me for picking on girls and the like. I rolled my eyes and crossed the duel ring, helping the fallen girl (well, monster spirit, if you want to be technical) up. I overheard Syrus and Alexis announcing the end of the Costume Duel, and the two of them came running up to us after the crowd began to disperse.

"You could have at least dragged it out a LITTLE bit," Alexis chastised me.

"Sorry for trying to win," I answered, furrowing my brow. "I don't think Mana would have appreciated the duel if her opponent didn't even try." Mana seemed to be in agreement, I guess, nodding her head and smiling like a typical oblivious girl.

"It was just as fun as every year!" she insisted. "But I have to go now… Mahaado's going to be mad if I go missing for too long…"

Syrus seemed to be the most upset by such news.

"But you just got here! You can still enjoy the carnival!" he tried to convince her. "Or at least the bonfire! Hey, I know! You could transfer into the academy and learn how to duel like Jaden and Alistair!"

"Speaking of Jaden," I interrupted, "where the hell did he go?"

"Hmm, maybe he went to his dorm," Alexis considered. "I'll go see if he's there." Before she managed to take one step away, I grabbed her by her shirt collar and held her back.

"Right, and let YOU near my room again?" I asked with a suspicious glare. "In your dreams. I'LL go look for him." I turned and began to head off before stopping and turning back to shake Mana's hand.

"Nice dueling against you, Miss Dark Magician Girl," I thanked her lightheartedly. "I'm not sure if the Shadow Realm has visiting hours, but I'm sure nobody will complain if you visited again. Jaden will probably want a rematch with you anyway, and Syrus will duel you as soon as he gets the guts."

"HEY!" Syrus countered. "I've got PLENTY of courage!" I snorted in amusement and ignored the angry little kid, setting off for the Slifer Red dorm as Mana continued to bid her farewells to everyone. Once I began to head down the hallway that led to his room, I could hear his voice quietly muttering to himself.

"Hmm, that's no good… maybe if I add a couple more Righteous Justice cards… and a Trap Jammer or two… Man, how the heck am I gonna pass exams this term?"

My brain clicked at that last remark as I appeared in his doorway.

"Exams, you say?" I asked, resting my fist under my chin in thought. Jaden didn't look at me, but I could tell he was grimacing at that word.

"Yeah, they start in less than a week!" he answered with a noticeable bit of panic in his voice. "I totally forgot all about them!" I had to admit, I had made the same error. Of course, with a spotless record in Duel Academy so far, I figured a term exam wouldn't be too devastating. It might even be my chance to gain a promotion to the next dorm, and finally ditch my terrible nickname.

"I suppose I should get to work as well," I sighed, trudging off to my own dorm. I opened the door and slumped onto the bed covered with pink and blue frilly sheets, a deep disgust building inside me as a lingering effect of how Alexis permanently scarred my dorm, my pride, and my retinas. Yet somehow we seemed to be getting closer every day.

…What the hell am I saying? If Atticus read this he'd have a field day. What a complicated and bothersome predicament this is becoming.

Just what in the name of Exodia is that girl DOING to me?

I tried to study, but my brain wouldn't stay focused. I tried to sleep, but my eyes wouldn't stay closed.

I simply laid in bed for half the night, my mind racing through thoughts that even I couldn't possibly begin to understand.


	17. All Work and No Play

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 17 – ALL WORK AND NO PLAY_**

Unlike in my previous schools, I quickly came to realize I'm no longer able to resent studying. Yes, preparation for the WRITTEN exam was about as exciting as watching C-SPAN (rimshot), but studying for the practical exam consisted merely of beating fellow students into the ground in Duel Monsters. Late Wednesday evening we received the exam details, explaining who our proctors were, who our practical exam opponents would be, et cetera. A rather pleasant stroke of luck put me with Banner for my written exam, but unfortunately it was noted that practical exam opponents and times would be revealed to us later in the week.

---

_Alistair **1800 ** – Jaden **0400** _

"Go, Buster Blader! Destroy Flame Wingman!" I shouted, finishing up my final duel of the day against Jaden. The armored swordsman charged and slashed right through Jaden's favorite monster, triggering a powerful explosion that wiped out his last 400 Life Points, earning me another victory.

_Alistair **1800 ** – Jaden **0000 ** _

Jaden was obviously frustrated (he'd dueled me about 4 or 5 times in the term so far, and his best performance was getting me down to 1100 Life Points), but at least showed excitement over having the toughest competition he'd seen since Zane.

"Well I gotta hand it to you, Alistair," Jaden admitted, "you're an amazing duelist!" I merely smiled at the compliment, removed my deck from my duel disk, and slipped it into my pocket.

"Practice makes perfect," I answered. "I've never seen someone make such efficient use of an Elemental Hero deck."

We idly chattered about decks we had faced in our dueling experience for about an hour afterwards until we were politely interrupted by the ever-so-delightful Chazz Princeton.

"What are you dorks yammering about now?" he inquired in the typical "Chazz" tone of voice. "Don't you losers have _studying _to do?"

I raised an eyebrow and glared at Chazz. "Don't _you_?"

"I'm already good enough to blaze through whatever exam opponent they throw at me!" he sneered confidently. I rolled my eyes hard enough that it hurt.

"There is a written portion, you know," I told him. "Did you forget?"

"Yeah right, like THAT'S important," Chazz snorted in response. "Everyone knows most of your grade is based on the dueling exam!"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Sixty percent. Screw off on the written exam and you still fail. Of course this could explain why you're still a Slifer." This was a serious blow to Chazz's ego, and I didn't think he would take it in stride.

"Shut up!" he spat. "I bet I could take you to school in a duel right now!" I rose to my feet and brushed off a few stray pine needles from my coat.

"Maybe later, Chazz. I have _studying_ to do," I answered with sarcasm. He gave me an annoyed glare and stormed off to go about his business. Jaden and I returned to the Slifer Red dorms – I went to study while Jaden likely went to see if Syrus would duel him. I stepped into my room, locked the door so I wouldn't be unexpectedly disturbed by anyone, and took a seat at the desk that sat in the corner of my dorm room near the window.

While I was looking over whatever class notes I had stashed away, I mused about the possibility of promotion. I had never seen the Ra Yellow dorm, and could only assume that it was some sort of middle ground between the cramped spaces of Slifer Red and the overdone extravagance of Obelisk Blue. The thing that really took its toll on my mind was that I knew I would look TERRIBLE in yellow. I figured if anything I wanted to skip Ra altogether and go straight to Obelisk Blue, but the odds of that were probably slim to none. Of course, a promotion automatically meant a new room, which meant good riddance to the atrocity Alexis had created a couple of weeks ago. Although a direct promotion to Obelisk Blue would mean Alexis would have closer proximity, and therefore present that much more of a threat.

Ah, decisions, decisions. I would likely wind up making my choice after I had gotten my results. I glanced over at the calendar I had hung up on the wall next to the bathroom. Banner had said the dorm would be repainted later this week, meaning I was stuck with pink walls for another few days, to my displeasure. I had a few more days until the exam on Friday, and most of my studying would probably be covered in class. You see, like most schools, the week before exams was reserved for review – or sleep, as was the case for Crowler's class.

This was going to be the most boring week ever.

---

Monday. Classes went smoothly for the most part, and no attempts were made by Alexis to humiliate me, which was a pleasant surprise. She's biding her time, I'm sure. Atticus was inspired to pay me a visit at lunch with some more of his bright ideas.

"Hey, Alistair!" he greeted me, quickly taking a seat across from me.

"Hello, Atticus," I responded with a touch of skepticism. I was curious as to what ludicrous accusations were going to spout from his mouth today. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing in particular bro," he answered. "Just wanted to drop in to see how you and Lexi were doing!"

I looked up at him with a dark glare, daring him to press the issue. He stupidly took the opportunity to do just that.

"So have you two taken your relationship to the next level?" he asked me, adding in a wink and a nudge. I dropped my fork and hardened my glare enough that I would have thought my pupils pinpointed at him.

"Dude, you might want to see an eye doctor about that," he suggested shortly before I threw him out of the cafeteria and returned to my lunch. I ignored the numerous stares I got from other students as I finished up and made my exit, returning to my dorm to continue my work for the afternoon.

---

Tuesday. Guess what I found out today.

JADEN IS ALEXIS'S FIANCE. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. And for you E-lingo people out there, OMG, LMAO, LOL, ROFL, ROFLMAO, and so forth.

Gossip is gold, I tell you. During Tuesday's gym class I met this Harrington fellow. Rather unpleasant person to be around, but he did provide me with that ever-so-interesting tidbit of information, following up with the incessant sobbing and general angst of a heartbroken snob. The cannons were now ready and armed with ammunition for when exams were over and I continued my persistent siege against Alexis. Keeping this magnificent new revelation in the back of my mind, I delightfully started conjuring up scenarios and brilliant new schemes.

Crowler's class was as uneventful as ever, but at least there was no homework to give (except study, if you call that homework). I got a few strange looks from classmates as I scribbled down new ideas I could put into action during the second term, as Atticus and I tried to stifle our laughter with little success. Thankfully, Crowler was too busy in his attempts to keep Jaden awake to notice us.

---

Wednesday. Everyone was treated to a PDA message upon waking up, listing the scheduled exam matches that were to take place on Saturday and Sunday. And guess what opponent irony had decided to bestow upon me on Saturday evening?

Yep. Chazz Princeton. Fate was certainly a cruel mistress.

Feeling satisfied with my stored knowledge of non-dueling material, I reverted to "typical lazy teenager" mode and spent the day sleeping, reading, or general wandering. Those who spotted me during my random walks around campus waved or started up bits of conversation – specifically the females, who were under the impression that I was dating Alexis and felt the need to try and draw me away from her. I blame Atticus for this devilry. How the hell did I attain this fanbase anyway? I'm also starting to think that their "Rhein-y Day Lovers" group name was created by the same person who tagged me as the "Silver Slifer".

What would they call me if I got promoted to Ra? Or even Obelisk? To be honest, I didn't really want to think about it. Purging my mind of bothersome thoughts, I gracefully accepted a few duel challenges from my fanbase (how strangely awkward), noting a couple new decks, the most interesting being a Union deck with odd little men on paper airplanes. Who would have known that such an odd combination of monsters could spawn a Union with 3100 attack points? Nonetheless, my Sorcerer of Dark Magic took care of that thing, and it was smooth sailing from then on out.

Surprisingly, I learned that several of these girls possessed my PDA address – a fact which I stumbled across after checking my mail to find a disturbingly large array of love letters. I would undoubtedly be requiring Atticus's help to keep these ravenous women at bay, as soon as possible.

---

Thursday. Just found out that the written exam would cover the history of Industrial Illusions, which I mistakenly neglected. So it was back to the library for me, which I found surprisingly empty except for Bastion reading at a nearby table.

"…Is it always this lonely in here?" I asked him, grabbing a nearby chair and pulling it up.

"On most days, yes," he replied, never taking his eyes away from whatever book he was reading. "There may be a few more here tomorrow, with exams looming and everything."

'Hooray for teenage laziness,' I thought to myself as I started to wander the library corridors in search for some relevant material to look over. As I rounded my fourth bookshelf, I slammed into someone, sending them falling to the floor. I grabbed the person's hand before they hit the ground, easily pulling them upright. At that moment I caught sight of who it was and blinked.

"Alistair?"

"Alexis."

"…Come here often?" I narrowed my eyes and brushed past her.

"Not exactly," I quickly responded. "But you know. Exams." I quickly began scanning the shelves, avoiding eye contact. "So when were you going to inform me about your engagement?"

"Excuse me?" she asked, her eyes wide. I grinned knowingly.

"Oh, just something I overheard during tennis lessons the other day…"

"…You've got to be kidding me."

"Do you think Jaden needs help picking out a tux?"

"Now you're starting to sound like Atticus."

"Perhaps a nice deep red would be his color…"

"Would you knock it off?"

"Atticus and I can pick out a band for the reception, and perhaps an elegant arrangement of flowers…"

At that point Alexis was pursuing me throughout the library, a murderous glint in her eyes.

"And a nice wedding cake! And the invitation designs! And who's going to be your bridesmaids?"

---

Friday. I guess Alexis doesn't like cake. Or bridesmaids.

"Just hold still, the cuts aren't that deep," the nurse told me. "You boys need to lay off Miss Rhodes… she's a fighter."

I wonder if I can skip the exam due to injury.

---

Saturday. The day has arrived at last. It's exam day. And no, I didn't get the day off. Apparently the cuts really _weren't_ that deep.

I had finished the written exam at noon, and my practical exam was at 6:30. Just my luck, I had schoolwork to do when I'd rather be watching The Simpsons. I spent the six-hour hiatus improving my deck, not entirely sure what to plan for. I knew Chazz's deck was a mess, an unorthodox mixture of Ojamas, machines, and dragons, but how he managed to win so many duels with it was truly a mystery to me. I went with a rather vanilla deck structure, throwing in a couple of specialty cards just to be safe, as well as my lovely little Elemental Absorber. Satisfied, I shuffled my deck and took off, getting waves and wishes of luck from the Slifers who had already taken their exams.

Just like everything else this academy held, all the action was in the duel arena. I briskly made my way, spotting Alexis out of the corner of my eye, silently watching me while on her way to the Obelisk dorm. She truly was a strange girl – attacking me one day, stalking me the next.

I entered the arena, seeing Sheppard, Banner, and Crowler in the stands and Chazz at the other end of the ring, smirking confidently. I furrowed my brow and grabbed my duel disk, itching to put this jerk in his place.


	18. The First Term Exam, Part 1

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

**_CHAPTER 18 – THE FIRST TERM EXAM, PART 1_**

"Remember," came Crowler's annoying British-like voice, "a loss does not necessarily mean you fail, and a win does not necessarily mean you pass! We're evaluating you based on your utilization of tactics. Understood?"

Chazz and I each nodded in agreement, activated our duel disks, and drew five cards to start with.

"Very well then, we have examination student #318, Chazz Princeton of Slifer Red, and examination student #361, Alistair Rhein of Slifer Red," Crowler confirmed. "Your first term exam starts now! Begin the duel!"

_Chazz **4000** - Alistair **4000** _

"I'll get this started," Chazz immediately announced before I could even offer him the first move. He drew a card from his deck and cockily grinned at his cards.

"Get ready for a butt-kicking, Silver Slifer!" he shouted. "I summon V-Tiger Jet (1600 / 1800) in attack mode!" A large yellow and blue fighter jet made its appearance on Chazz's field, giving me reason to believe he was in a machine mood today. That feeling was reinforced with his next two cards.

"Next I'll play my Frontline Base magic card," he declared, "which lets me summon ANOTHER one of these machines from my hand, and what better than my W-Wing Catapult (1300 / 1500)!" Joining the V-Tiger Jet was what appeared to be a blue winged mechanical contraption with turbo boosters. It didn't look like much, but I wasn't enough of a fool to think he was going to leave two mediocre monsters out in attack mode on the first turn.

"Now, V-Tiger Jet and W-Wing Catapult! Merge together!" Chazz ordered, sending the two machines he had summoned soaring into the air and performing a cliché "joining forces" sequence that I'd have expected to see on an old episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. "When combined, they create the VW-Tiger Catapult (2000 / 2100)!"

I made no sort of expression, knowing that I still had a turn to ruin his entire dramatic buildup. Crowler and company were muttering amongst themselves, jotting things down in their gradebooks and watching the duel carefully.

"I'll finish up with a face-down and end my turn," he finished, a holographic face-down flashing into view before his feet. The teachers' attention now turned to me. I drew one card from my deck and stared down at my hand, mildly disappointed. I've certainly drawn better.

"I'll play two face-down cards," I decided, doing just that. "That's all."

Chazz and the teachers gave me puzzled looks, but the exam proceeded as normal.

"No monsters?" he asked, drawing his next card. "You really ARE a rookie! Tiger Catapult, attack him directly!" I merely rose one arm to shield my eyes from the flashes of light and billowing smoke as the VW-Tiger Catapult unleashed a barrage of laser blasts at me, cutting my Life Points in half.

_Chazz **4000 ** – Alistair **2000 **_

"That ends my turn. This'll sure be a short match," Chazz snorted at me, shortly before one of my face-down cards revealed itself.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," I interrupted. "I activate my Damage Condenser trap, allowing me to summon a monster with an attack power equal to or less than the damage you just inflicted on me. All I have to do is send one card from my hand to the Graveyard."

I chose one card from my hand and slipped it into my Graveyard, then fanned out my deck in search for one monster in particular.

"And I just so happen to know the perfect monster for the job," I continued with a smile. "You dealt me 2000 points of damage, so here's a card with 2000 points of power. I call forth my Dark Magician Girl (2000 / 1700)!"

The excited female mage was all too happy to make another appearance in one of my duels, materializing on my side of the field with a broad smile on her face.

"Oh, and did I mention what card I sent to the Graveyard as the price for Damage Condenser?" I asked rhetorically. "It was a Dark Magician, and when he's in the scrap heap my Dark Magician Girl gets 300 more points." Dark Magician Girl's attack power rose to 2300, but I felt I could boost it higher.

"Now then," I said to an unhappy Chazz while drawing my next card, "let us continue… with my Graceful Charity spell! Now I may draw three cards, and then discard two… one of them being a Magician of Black Chaos, which means another 300 points for my Dark Magician Girl!" Her total climbed higher to 2600, a sufficient amount in my eyes.

"Now to dismiss that warplane of yours! Magician Girl, attack the Tiger Catapult!"

"Yeah, like I'd let you do _that_," Chazz cut in, flipping up his face down card. "You just lost the duel! I activate Ring of Destruction!"

"Like I'd let you do **that**," I mimicked, activating my own trap. "I'll chain – with my Trap Jammer!" Chazz's Ring of Destruction card glowed and shattered, while his Tiger Catapult was crushed with a brilliant surge of pink energy, chopping Chazz's Life Points down to 3400.

_Chazz **3400 ** – Alistair ** 2000 **_

"I'll play one face-down to finish up," I concluded, slipping a final card into one of the magic and trap slots in my duel disk. "Take it away, Princeton." Sneering, Chazz practically ripped the next card in two as he whipped it out of his deck in dramatic fashion.

"I play my Pot of Greed spell, letting me draw new cards!" he explained, increasing his hand size. He got that freaky angry smile on his face as he proceeded with his turn.

"Next I'll bring out X-Head Cannon (1800 / 1500), in attack mode!" he shouted, a large robot appearing to be the torso of something much larger rising to the field. Its shoulders were mounted with twin cannons, both aimed at my Dark Magician Girl.

"And thanks to Frontline Base, I can also bring out Z-Metal Tank (1500 / 1300)!" Chazz continued, summoning a hulking yellow vehicle to join the X-Head Cannon. "Now these two can combine too! My Z-Metal Tank can fuse with my X-Head Cannon, and increase their attack and defense points by 600!"

The two machines linked together, rising their attack and defense totals to 2300 and 2100.

"And last but not least, I play a spell card! 7 Completed!" Chazz proclaimed. "With this baby, I can power up my XZ-Tank Cannon by another 700 points!"

The machine's attack power rose higher to a total of 3100, enough for the task he had set out to complete.

"Looks like your Magician Girl's toast! Tank Cannon, attack!" Chazz shouted triumphantly. The XZ-Tank Cannon fired a barrage of missiles that nuked my side of the field, destroying my Dark Magician Girl and claiming another 500 Life Points.

_Chazz **3400 ** – Alistair **1500** _

"That does it for me," he finished with a grin. I drew my next card calmly and smiled, pleased with the draw my deck had given me.

"You won't be getting rid of my Dark Magician Girl that easily," I stated. "I activate Call of the Haunted, and summon her back to the field!" The Dark Magician Girl reappeared on the field, and playfully blew a raspberry at Chazz.

"Next I activate my Sage's Stone spell!" I declared while Chazz glowered at me. "With my Dark Magician Girl on the field, Sage's Stone allows me to automatically give her some company – in the form of my Dark Magician (2500 / 2100)!"

Joining my jumpy and energetic Dark Magician Girl was the stern and serious Dark Magician, staring down the mechanical monstrosity on Chazz's field.

"Finally I'll play one face-down, ending my turn," I said, eager to see how Chazz would react now. He drew his next card as the heads of the teachers again turned toward his direction.

"I'll just roast that Magician Girl of yours a second time! Tank Cannon, attack again!" he shouted. I quickly reacted, pulling a Mystical Elf from my hand and slipping it into my pocket. The look on Chazz's face made me think he knew what was coming.

"I activate my Elemental Absorber trap!" I countered. "With my Mystical Elf now removed from the game, none of your Light-type monsters may declare an attack!"

Chazz grimaced angrily as his Tank Cannon slowly retreated back to its original position, forcing him to end his turn. I drew a card, knowing this was my chance to gain some ground.

"I'll start with my own Pot of Greed!" I began, drawing two cards from my deck. I was rather unimpressed with the draw, so I opted to fix the problem.

"And now I'll follow up with Card Destruction!" I announced, holding the card out for Chazz to see. "We each discard our entire hand, and then draw the same number of cards that we discarded from our decks!"

Chazz and I each wound up drawing three new cards. My hand didn't get a whole lot better, but I suppose I had to make the most out of it.

"And finally, I'll play Magical Blast!" I shouted, giving my two Magicians the go-ahead to charge up a massive ball of burning energy and release it in unison, sending the attack streaking across the field and slamming into Chazz.

_Chazz **3000 ** – Alistair **1500 **_

"Magical Blast inflicts 200 points of direct damage to you for every Spellcaster I've got on the field," I told him. "Since I've got two, that's a 400-point hit. And I think I'll just play two face-downs to finish."

Chazz was getting more agitated with each turn passed. He drew his next card and again flashed that disturbing grin, signifying he had another brilliant plan.

"Now you're in for it, Silver Slifer!" he hissed. "First I separate my X-Head Cannon and my Z-Metal Tank!" The X-Head Cannon split apart from the top of Z-Metal Tank and hovered next to it. Of course, I had a feeling they'd be combining again.

"Now I summon my Y-Dragon Head (1400 / 1500)!" he shouted, calling the red winged glider and the final piece of the XYZ family. "Now X-Head Cannon! Y-Dragon Head! And Z-Metal Tank! Combine and form the unstoppable XYZ-Dragon Cannon (2800 / 2600)!!"

The trio of machines lifted into the air and joined with one another, creating a colossal multi-colored war machine of unbelievable size and power. One look at Chazz's face and you'd think that he already won the duel.

"Now all I gotta do is discard one card from my hand, so I can activate my Dragon Cannon's ability and blow out that Elemental Absorber!" he boasted. Doing just that, the Dragon Cannon's primary weapon released a powerful laser beam that sliced right through my Elemental Absorber trap and splintering it into nothingness.

"Don't think I'm done yet!" he continued. "Now I play my Level Modulation spell card! First off, you draw two cards." I added the top two cards of my deck to my hand, as instructed.

"Now," Chazz explained, "I get to summon my Armed Dragon Level Seven (2800 / 1000)!" A giant black and red dragon with a belly lined with nasty spikes emerged onto the field behind Chazz in attack position. I'll be honest. It looked hungry.

"Don't worry, he's just visiting," Chazz tried reassuring me with sarcasm. "I only summoned him so I could tribute him for my Armed Dragon Level TEN (3000 / 2000)!!" The dragon behind Chazz disappeared only to be replaced with an even more ghastly behemoth, covered with black armored skin and an aura of sheer strength. I raised my eyebrows, rather impressed with a monster of that caliber.

"Let's see how you like this! Dragon Cannon, attack his Dark Magician Girl!" he ordered. I responded by activating one of my two face-down cards.

"Ah ah ah! Not so fast!" I interrupted. "I activate a magic card – Dedication Through Light and Darkness!" My Dark Magician then disappeared from the field moments before being replaced by a new one with black flowing hair and dark blue and black armor.

"Now by sacrificing my Dark Magician, I can summon my Dark Magician of Chaos (2800 / 2600)!" I shouted. Chazz just sneered at me for the 80th time that day.

"So what? I'm attacking your OTHER monster!" he argued, moments before widening his eyes and calling off his attack. Perfect timing as well, as my Dark Magician Girl's attack points had just risen to 2900.

"Close call there, Chazz," I taunted. "Don't want to look like a fool during an exam."

"Shut up, Slifer!" he spat angrily. "Your Magician Girl's still gonna be dragon food! Armed Dragon, attack!"

This time I didn't have anything to prevent the attack, and my Dark Magician Girl was destroyed as a result. The carry over damage wasn't severe, but it left me with a cautionary total of 1400.

_Chazz **3000 ** – Alistair **1400** _

"I'll end my turn there," he said with confidence, glaring at me. I merely chuckled as I raised my hand, a card instantly materializing in it. Dumbstruck, Chazz demanded to know what had happened.

"You certainly are slow," I teased again. "One of the effects my Dark Magician of Chaos possesses is the ability to return one spell card from my graveyard to my hand."

I proceeded to draw my next card, but decided to play that specific spell card first.

"Want to know what it is?" I asked, laying the card down on my duel disk. "Surprise! It's one of _your _cards!"

---

NEW BONUS SEGMENT

Hello, Alistair Rhein speaking. Seeing all the reviews my daily life has been getting lately, it's been suggested that I take part in a new segment in which you, the reviewers can ask me anything you want to know about life at Duel Academy, what I've done in my past, or even some little-known secrets I managed to dig up during my time at school. Do YOU know what Alexis hides under her bed?

Anyway, ask me anything you want, and I'll be sure to give each and every one of you a response. Furthermore, I'll be sure to give each and every one of you a strangling if you call me the Silver Slifer. Clear? Wonderful. Oh, and… don't tell Alexis about that "under the bed" thing. I'm in hot water with her as it is.

(whistling in background)

It's a METAPHOR, Atticus!!


	19. The First Term Exam, Part 2

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

---

**x-knight20 asks:**_ "Has Alistair seen if Jaden has a thing for Alexis yet?"_

**Alistair says:** _Jaden? LIKE people? The boy doesn't even know what a fiancé is. Whoever makes the decision to start dating that naïve kid will have a lot of tutoring to do. I personally haven't seen him express anything that resembles a crush toward anyone, unless you count his cards... which would make you a very strange person._

**Poison's Ivy asks: **_"What does Alexis hide under her bed?"_

**Alistair says: **_Old family photo albums, a box of spare Duel Monster cards, a pair of bunny slippers, and a school picture of Jaden. Remember, you didn't hear that from me._

**Jon asks:** _"Do you think Atticus is obsessed with his sister's love life because he is insecure about his?"_

**Alistair says:**_ If he is, then there's about 100 or so girls in this Academy who would like to resolve that insecurity. If I had to take a guess, I would say Atticus is merely playing the "big brother" role. That is, taking advantage of every possible opportunity to thoroughly embarrass your sister. Where Alexis and I have been warring since the beginning of the school year, she and Atticus have been warring since they were kids._

Keep on sending your questions and Alistair will keep on answering them. On with the story!

---

**_CHAPTER 19 – THE FIRST TERM EXAM, PART 2_**

_Chazz **3000** – Alistair **1400** _

Chazz shot me a baffled look when I announced that I was playing one of his cards. The card I had played rose onto the field, depicting Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl casting a spell together in unison.

"That's not one of my cards!" he sneered. "Get your facts right!"

"Not yet it's not," I replied with a smile. "But watch carefully!" I removed Polymerization from my hand and discarded it to my graveyard, and instantly the card I had just played changed, its image becoming that of Chazz's Level Modulation spell.

"What the- ? That's my card!" he shouted angrily.

"Yes, I know," I explained. "It's a card known as Double Spell. By discarding one spell card from my hand, I can give this card the ability of any spell that sits in your Graveyard! So do you mind if I borrow your Level Modulation? Go ahead, draw two cards."

Chazz glared at me irritably and plucked two cards off the top of his deck.

"Very good," I said grinning. "Meet Silent Magician Level Eight (3500 / 1000)!" An older version of my Silent Magician LV4 materialized onto the field, dressed in fancy white and aqua robes and topped off with a giant white hat. Chazz at first seemed unsettled at the tremendous attack power, but soon that look turned to one of relief knowing I was unable to attack with my Magician this turn.

"Whatever," he laughed. "I'll just blow it away next turn! I've got two monsters that can handle THAT job!"

"We'll see about that," I chuckled. "I'll play one face-down and end my turn." Chazz grinned and drew his next card.

"Alright, first things first!" he started, before I cut in.

"Indeed, first thing – I activate Rivalry of Warlords!" I immediately declared, flipping up the trap card I had set the previous turn. "Decision time, Princeton. You have two types of monsters on your side of the field, but as long as Rivalry of Warlords is in play, each of us can only control one type of monster at a time. I have my Spellcasters, so you have to choose. Your dragon, or your machine? Which will you keep, and which goes to the Graveyard?"

Chazz gritted his teeth angrily and mulled over the decision momentarily.

"Grrr… fine! I'll keep my XYZ-Dragon Cannon on the field!!" he reluctantly decided, triggering the destruction of his Level 10 Armed Dragon. "I'll just turn it into something better! First I play my Re-Fusion spell! By paying 800 Life Points, I can bring back my VW-Tiger Catapult!"

_Chazz **2200 ** – Alistair ** 1400** _

As Chazz had explained, his Tiger Catapult was now back on the field, and since it was a Machine-type like XYZ-Dragon Cannon, the two were able to be on the field at the same time.

"Now meet the ultimate war machine!" Chazz shouted. "Tiger Catapult and Dragon Cannon! Fuse together to create the one and only V-to-Z Dragon Catapult Cannon (3000 / 2800)!!" The two massive machines went through yet another merger, the product this time being a 25-foot-tall bipedal titan comprised of the linked pieces of Chazz's five machine monsters.

"Now for its effect!" Chazz declared. "Every turn I can remove one of your cards from play! So kiss your Silent Magician goodbye!" My Silent Magician suddenly was caught in a vortex and disappeared entirely from the field, leaving only my Dark Magician of Chaos on my field for defense.

"Dragon Catapult Cannon, attack his Magician!!" he bellowed triumphantly. His mechanical monster aimed its two giant cannons and incinerated my Magician with a surge of energy, staking claim to another 200 of my Life Points.

_Chazz **2200** – Alistair **1200** _

"Time for me to cut in," I announced. "I activate my Enchanted Javelin trap!"

My final face-down card opened, and Chazz narrowed his eyes irritably. I suppose, for once, someone around here actually knew what one of my cards did.

"Now I gain Life Points equal to the attack points of one monster on the field," I explained. "And since I don't have much of a choice, I'll gladly take 3000 points courtesy of your Dragon Catapult Cannon!"

_Chazz **2200 ** – Alistair **4200** _

"Whatever," Chazz snorted. "You've got no cards in your hand and no monsters to protect you. It doesn't really matter what you draw, cause next turn I'm gonna mop the floor with you!"

I drew my next card, and my face instantly lit up.

"Would you like to place a bet on that, Chazz?" I asked, showing him the card I drew.

"You're KIDDING me!" he snarled angrily. I ignored his angry shouts and immediately placed the card onto my duel disk.

"I activate my Trusting the Deck spell card!" I declared, gladly paying the card's cost of 2500 Life Points and destroying my Rivalry of Warlords trap. "Now let's see what I can use against you."

_Chazz **2200** – Alistair **1700 **_

I fanned out my deck and selected the three cards I found most useful before replacing my deck into my duel disk. I smiled faintly as I played the first of the three cards.

"First I play Fusion Recovery!" I proclaimed, my Graveyard spitting out Polymerization and my Dark Magician. "Now with the materials I need in my hand, I'll play Polymerization to fuse Dark Magician and the Buster Blader I took from my deck in order to summon my Dark Paladin (2900 / 2400)!"

I felt a lot more comfortable with my only Fusion monster on the field, and potentially the most powerful monster in my deck. Chazz tapped his foot on the floor, waiting impatiently for his next turn.

"Now I activate my Dark Paladin's special ability!" I continued. "For every Dragon-type monster on the field or in our graveyard, my Paladin gains an extra 500 attack points! And with Armed Dragon Level 7 and Level 10 in your Graveyard, my Dark Paladin's attack power becomes 3900!" A smoky red aura began to flow over my Dark Paladin to Chazz's horror, amplifying its strength.

"Dark Paladin, attack! Dismantle that oversized pile of bolts!" I commanded. The Dark Paladin's weapon became engulfed in the fiery scarlet energy that enhanced its power, and came crashing down upon the Dragon Catapult Cannon, effectively blasting it to pieces and reducing Chazz to 1300 Life Points.

_Chazz **1300 ** – Alistair **1700**_

I looked down at the final card I had selected with my Trusting the Deck spell, and slipped it into one of my magic and trap zones.

"I'll play my final card face-down and end my turn," I concluded, allowing Chazz to make his next draw.

"I activate my Reckless Greed spell card!" he announced. "It works like Pot of Greed, except after I draw two cards, I can't draw for two turns. But that's not a problem, because I've got a feeling that this'll be the LAST turn!" He snatched two cards off the top of his deck and continued.

"Alright, pay attention! Next I play Emergency Provisions!" he then shouted at me, his Frontline Base and Reckless Greed cards dissolving away. "By sending these two cards to the Graveyard, my I get a 2000-point boost to my Life Points!"

_Chazz **3300** – Alistair ** 1700** _

"Next I play my Dimension Fusion spell!!" he declared with determination. "By paying the 2000 Life Points I just got back, we can both summon monsters that have been removed from play!"

_Chazz **1300** – Alistair ** 1700** _

"Fine," I agreed. "Then I'll summon back my Dark Magician of Chaos (2800 / 2600)! And with it comes another spell card from my Graveyard!" The Dark Magician of Chaos rematerialized onto the field, and Graceful Charity reappeared in my hand.

"I don't care!" Chazz sneered back. "Because now I'm gonna reintroduce to you V-Tiger Jet (1600 / 1800), W-Wing Catapult (1300 / 1500), X-Head Cannon (1800 / 1500), Y-Dragon Head (1400 / 1500), and Z-Metal Tank (1500 / 1300)!!" Each of the five components of the Dragon Catapult Cannon materialized onto the field, filling every one of Chazz's monster zones.

"Now X-Head Cannon and Y-Dragon Head! Fuse together to create XY-Dragon Cannon (2200 / 1900)!!" he continued, linking together the two machines to create an even larger contraption. I still wasn't sure what he was up to, until he played the final card in his hand.

"Finally I play this!! LIMITER REMOVAL!" he bellowed gloriously. I blinked in surprise as a white glow enveloped all of his machines, sending their attack points rocketing upwards.

"Now the attack points of all my monsters are DOUBLED!" he stated proudly. I was now facing down a squadron of machines with attack ratings of 3200, 2600, 3000, and 4400.

"V-Tiger Jet! Attack his Dark Magician of Chaos now!!" he ordered, as the left-most unit barraged my Magician with a flurry of laser blasts, knocking my Life Points down to 1300.

_Chazz **1300** – Alistair ** 1300** _

"Now XY-Dragon Cannon! Destroy his Dark Paladin!" Chazz continued, sending his biggest machine after my only remaining monster. The time to act was now or never.

"I activate my trap card!" I immediately shot back, flipping up the final card I had played. "Samsara Dogma!! It lets me change all monsters in our Graveyards to a type I declare! And I select Dragon-type!"

All of our monsters began sliding out of our Graveyards, and one by one, they transferred additional energy to my Dark Paladin, increasing his attack power to 8900.

"No way!!" Chazz shouted in shock, clenching his fists. "Grrrr… I activate my other Ring of Destruction!!"

His final face-down card was revealed, and conjured a ring of grenades around my Dark Paladin. The explosion engulfed the entire battlefield, leaving nothing behind in the smoky aftermath. No monsters, no trap cards, no Life Points.

_Chazz **0000** – Alistair ** 0000** _

I stood there in disbelief, hearing absolute silence other than the appreciative clapping from the teachers that we seemed to have forgotten were watching the entire duel. I stared across the battlefield at Chazz, who was spread-eagled on the floor.

"…Well done," I remarked, sincerely impressed. Chazz merely grumbled and got to his feet.

"Yeah, whatever," he responded, stepping down from the duel ring. Sheppard informed us that we would be getting our results tomorrow morning, and that we were free to go. On the way out, I was called back by Crowler.

"Mr. Rhein, may I have a word?" he inquired. I backtracked to find out what he wanted.

"Yes, Professor?" I asked curiously.

"The staff is pleased to know you're still a top-notch duelist without using your two Envoy cards," he explained. "So I hope it's not too much of a hinderance for you to know that starting next turn they will be banned from use."

My eyes widened with terror.

"My Envoy cards are now… banned??" I choked out. "Since when?"

"Just a proposal that was submitted by Alexis Rhodes, which the staff approved," he explained snootily. "That's all, enjoy your winter break!"

Crowler then left me there, my blood boiling. My face felt like it was going to burst into flames at any moment, and I could almost hear the hissing of steam exiting my ears. I looked down at my deck and fanned it out, staring mournfully at my two Envoy cards.

It was fun and games no more. Alexis had crossed the line.


	20. Student From the Shadow Realm

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

---

**Wrinty asks:**_ "Do you like being a Sue?"_

**Alistair says:** _A what? Did you just call me a woman? Perhaps you're referring to someone else within the Academy… actually come to think of it, I haven't even met anyone by that name._

**Poison's Ivy asks: **_"What is Alistair gonna do now?"_

**Alistair says: **_Humiliate her like never before. She messed with my cards once and paid for it. I warned her that if she involved my cards again I would unleash a much more severe punishment._

Keep on sending your questions and Alistair will keep on answering them. On with the story!

---

**_CHAPTER 20 – STUDENT FROM THE SHADOW REALM_**

My Envoy cards. My precious Envoy cards were BANNED. This required more advanced methods of retaliation. Nobody has their way with my deck structure and gets away with it. The loss of two of my most lethal cards quickly took a toll on my mental state, as I began losing practice duel after practice duel. It was mortifying. Alexis had completely shattered my mental composure, and she would pay dearly.

Winter break was… interesting, I suppose. I spent Christmas with the family as most others did, received a barrage of questions regarding my schoolwork and what I wanted to do when my days at the Academy drew to a close. That, I must admit, was a topic I hadn't given much consideration to. The Pro Leagues were a viable option, where I could encounter big-name talents like Aster Phoenix and Zane Truesdale, while other options like card design and teaching were certainly interesting. I, for the most part however, spent my time in mourning, not to mention plotting further revenge against Alexis for directly affecting my Duel Monster deck. My bedroom was littered with crumpled sheets of paper illustrating prank ideas I felt weren't evil enough as I slaved away in designing the perfect plan, and sure enough, on the final day of winter term, a truly wonderful idea came to me. A sheer masterpiece, my greatest idea yet. I hastily scribbled it down before the majesty of this newest and greatest plan faded from my mind, and folded the necessary documents up neatly before tucking them away for safe keeping.

Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention. My exam results arrived the day after my duel with Chazz, granting me promotion to Ra Yellow. I received my new uniform midway through winter break, and wasted no time into modifying it to my personal preference. I created an exact replica of my silver and red Slifer overcoat, except since silver and yellow looked terrible together in my eyes, I opted to make it silver and gold. After a few finishing touches, I hung the Ra overcoat next to my Slifer one, and flopped onto my bed and into a deep sleep. Finding Atticus on Day 1 was the top item on my to-do list.

---

I slept for most of the ferry ride back to the island, at least until I was jarred awake by a certain brown-haired card maniac.

"Hey Alistair! Welcome back!" shouted Jaden's familiar voice, startling me out of my slumber and sending me tumbling to the floor. "Whoops! Sorry, were you asleep?"

I sighed wearily and sat up from the floor, holding the back of my head in dull pain and brushing bits of dust off my new Ra outfit.

"Yes, Jaden, but I do have my _own _alarm clock, thanks," I quipped, rubbing my eyes. Jaden looked around the room aimlessly as I stood up and stretched.

"So is there a reason you barged into my room or did you just want to scare me half to death?" I sighed as Jaden snapped back to reality.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing, that's all," he laughed. "How was your vacation?"

"Not exactly a thrill ride," I replied. "Christmas and New Year's with the family… that's about the extent of it. And yours?"

"Oh man! It was awesome!" he boasted excitedly. "Me and Sy got to travel around with Zane and see some of his duels!" Jaden proceeded to explain every duel he got to see in precise detail, and I decided to wander around the ship a bit. Jaden followed, his mouth moving as fast as his feet. Eventually we reached the bow of the ship where I saw a familiar girl leaning against the railing, enjoying the breeze. I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out where I had seen her before. After a moment, she turned her head in our direction, smiled, and waved.

My jaw dropped. It was MANA.

"Is that…?" Jaden half-asked.

"It is," I answered, in as much confusion as he was. Mana looked drastically different. Her hair style was just as… unique as ever, but her token blue and pink armor was gone, replaced with a Slifer Red uniform. None of this made ANY sense to me whatsoever, and I was thoroughly convinced I was still asleep and was dreaming this entire thing. She ran over to us with a big smile on her face.

"Hi guys!" she chirped happily. "Remember me?" Jaden and I blinked and nodded in unison.

"What happened to 'once a year'?" I asked in bewilderment.

"Welllll…" Mana started, "I liked the game and this academy so much that Mahaado said I could learn how to play here and study magic on the weekends!"

My brain had turned into mush. I felt like I was trapped inside a bad fanfiction.

"Does Syrus know about this?" I whispered to Jaden, who shook his head. I honestly had no idea what to say. A Duel Monster learning how to play Duel Monsters? Is that even physically possible? Surely there's some law of physics that prevents this from occurring, isn't there?

"Er… well… welcome to Duel Academy," I eventually said to Mana with a shrug. "This is… certainly unexpected."

"It'll be awesome!" Jaden interrupted. "Wait till Sy finds out!"

"Yes, great idea," I answered sarcastically. "Make the kid so unbearably nervous that he hides in his dorm for a week."

"Aww… maybe I should go talk to him," Mana chimed in. This certainly would be interesting. We led Mana to Syrus's room on the ship, and Jaden knocked on the door. I simply stood there trying not to laugh at how ridiculous the notion of a Duel Monster attending Duel Academy was. Syrus eventually answered the door, and in a fraction of a second his eyes widened incredulously as he attempted to slam the door shut. Responding quickly, I used my foot to block the door from closing.

In retrospect, that probably wasn't the best idea.

"Wow Alistair, that was the loudest swear I've ever heard," Jaden laughed as I growled and limped painfully into the room. Syrus had hid under the bed like the timid kid he was, and Mana appeared shocked from my rather colorful choice of words after getting my foot crushed by a door. I intentionally flopped onto Syrus's bed in an attempt to drive him out from below, and was successful.

"You could have just ASKED me to come out!" Syrus whined as he reluctantly got out from under the bed. I laughed and shook my head.

"Right, like you'd listen to us," I responded, examining my injured foot. This would certainly put a delay on my next plan against Alexis.

"Hey Sy!" Mana squealed with glee as she hugged the blue-haired kid who was quickly turning scarlet in the face. I made no further effort to prevent my laughter.

---

When we reached the island, I found my foot was in even more pain. Jaden and Bastion had to help me get down from the ramp before I was quickly taken over to the hospital wing. I missed the entire first day of activities to my displeasure, forced to spend my time in the hospital wing with a fractured foot. Just my luck. It took a few days for me to recover, and I received periodic visits from Jaden and company. Alexis didn't even try to make my day miserable. But the days passed slowly, with nothing for me to do except watch television and sleep. People came and went now and then, but I paid no mind to the frivolous chatter the visitors went about.

---

The day I was able to be released, I was still forced to wander around on crutches. As I was about to leave the wing, something on the floor caught my eye. I carefully found a place to sit and bent over to pick up the object I found, a spare Duel Monster card. I looked at it in cluelessness, as it was a card I had never seen before.

"Hmm…" I mused, my eyes moving from the picture to the card name. "Arcana Force Fourteen – Temperance. …Weird." I silently read its effects, and found it to be an interestingly useful card if one was lucky enough. 2400 attack and defense points… impressive for a one-tribute monster. When it was summoned, the monster would either cut all your battle damage in half, or cut all your opponent's battle damage in half, but what seemed most useful was the fact that it could be discarded from the hand in order to negate damage, like an invisible trap. I decided to hang on to the peculiar card for the time being, wondering if I would run into its owner in the near future. Perhaps I could even use it in a duel or two before then, just for a test run.

I made my way to the Ra dorm, which was noticeably larger than the old Slifer Red dorm. Upon entrance, I was surprised to see Syrus inside, wearing a Ra Yellow uniform.

"You got promoted?" I asked, mildly surprised. I didn't think Syrus as a bad duelist, just a little too unsure of his moves.

"You bet!" he cheered, fixing his glasses. "Nice outfit, Alistair!" I grimaced slightly at the compliment and shook my head.

"I hate yellow," I insisted, setting off to find my room. Unlocking it, I opened the door and nearly cried with joy. Plasma television. Playstation 2. King-size bed. PLASMA FREAKING TELEVISION. All of a sudden I loved yellow. I leapt onto my bed, completely forgetting about my injury.

"You alright there, soldier?" Tyranno Hassleberry called, seeing me flat on the floor. "That was a mighty loud profanity there!"

"I'll be fine," I said through gritted teeth. I hate yellow. I hate it for making me too happy.


	21. Operation Heavy Storm

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

---

**cheerleader101 asks: **_"Would you consider you and Alexis having a close friend relationship or a hate-love one?"_

**Alistair says: **_…It depends on how much of an absolute mischevious DEMON GIRL she decides to be, which can vary drastically on a day-by-day basis. And what do you mean a "hate-love relationship"? I don't need another Atticus on my case._

**RPQ asks: **_"Apart from Mana, do you believe in monster spirits?"_

**Alistair says: **_I certainly do now. If Mana can wander around the real world, I don't see why others couldn't. Still, that doesn't make it any less awkward."_

**RPQ also says: **_"I suggest bringing in Mana to help with your plans._

**Alistair says: **_No can do. This is a man's job. Mana would probably give away our position with an unfortunately-timed giggle fit anyway._

Keep on sending your questions and Alistair will keep on answering them. On with the story!

---

**_CHAPTER 21 – OPERATION HEAVY STORM_**

A few weeks and a flurry of swear words later, my foot was completely healed. Now was the perfect time to put my counterattack into motion. I still refused to leave my Ra dorm, half because I was still emotionally damaged from the loss of my Envoy cards which had to be confiscated for the duration of the term by Chancellor Sheppard, and half because the room was just too awesome to leave behind. Having sent a PDA message to Atticus earlier in the day, I expected a visit from him sometime today. And sure enough, there was a knock on my door at around eleven in the morning.

"You in there, Alistair?" Atticus asked from the other side. I hopped out of my bed and unlocked the door, letting him inside. He looked around the room, nodding his head in approval and mumbling things to himself like "nice", "sweet", and "awesome".

"So what's this new plan of yours?" he eventually asked me as I whipped out the notepad I kept in my pocket. I decided to unveil the newest feature I decided to add to my room, opening up the nearby closet doors and pulling out a giant whiteboard, complete with black markers. Copying the diagram from my notepad to the whiteboard, Atticus's expanding grin was evidence that he loved this idea. When it was finished, I threw down the black marker and faced him.

"I call it Operation Heavy Storm," I chuckled. "And it begins whenever you're ready."

"That means NOW!" Atticus declared excitedly. "I'll lead the way!" We left the Ra dorm immediately and advanced to the Obelisk Girls dorm. Like before, he was able to get us inside effortlessly, a talent that continued to puzzle me. I had to hold Atticus back so we could hide in the lobby momentarily, as he was ready to begin the operation right away when there were still a couple of preparations to make.

"What's the holdup?" he inquired eagerly. "Let's get this show on the road!"

"We have to make sure the coast is clear," I insisted, sending a pair of PDA messages to Mindy and Jasmine. To our fortune, they both reported that they were having lunch at the cafeteria, while Alexis stayed back at the dorm.

"Alright," I confirmed. "Let's move out."

If there was ever a time where the "Mission: Impossible" theme would play over real life, this would be that time. Atticus and I carefully crept through the maze of hallways in the Obelisk dorm as we approached Alexis's room. The hissing sound and warm scent of running shower water met my senses, assuring me that our timing couldn't have been more perfect.

"We are the two luckiest pranksters in the history of the universe," I told Atticus, sneaking quietly into the room. We secured the perimeter and re-examined the plans.

"Alright," I said, "one of us will have to cover the bathroom."

Atticus and I both glanced toward the bathroom, and then looked at each other as if to say "you do it".

"You should go for it," Atticus insisted. "Besides, you'll be seeing her like that a number of times in the future, if you catch my drift!" I took that moment to smack Atticus upside the head and point to the dresser resting against the wall.

"Fine, get the goods and I'll do the dirty work," I growled, cautiously approaching the bathroom door. I started to pick the lock without a sound as Atticus started opening the drawers and pulling out everything he could find, stuffing it all into a giant plastic bag. I turned to glare at him when he sounded like he was holding back a laughter fit, only to widen my eyes at the frilly pink Cyber Blader thong he was holding up.

"Put that AWAY, damn it!" I hissed at him as quietly as possible. "We're wasting time!"

I continued to work on unlocking the door when the dresser all of a sudden started buzzing. I whipped my head around to see Atticus's shocked expression.

"…I don't even WANT to know what that is," I whispered. "Turn it off!"

"Dude, I'm not touching that!" Atticus countered.

"I'm not going to the hospital wing again because of this! Turn it off!"

Atticus reluctantly reached into the dresser with his eyes closed. There was a faint click and the buzzing stopped. I rolled my eyes and finally managed to get the door open. Being as silent as possible, I crept into the bathroom, noticing Alexis's silhouette on the shower curtain and the pile of clothes on the floor. I swiftly gathered them up without being seen, and pulled a Post-It note from my pocket. I scribbled down a few words and stuck it next to the mirror where it could easily be seen, finally withdrawing back into the bedroom.

"Got it," I told Atticus, who still looked pale in the face. "Oh don't be such a child."

Atticus looked as if he was about to vomit, so I simply stuffed the remainder of the clothes into the bag, tied it up, and hauled it out of the door, dragging Atticus with me. We left the room completely empty of clothes, and a simple Post-It note by the bathroom mirror:

"CLOTHES ARE NOW BANNED. – LOVE, ALISTAIR AND ATTICUS"

---

It came as no surprise later in the day that Alexis was missing from Crowler's class.

"Pullman?"

"Here."

"…is present. Ratigan?"

"Here."

"…is present. Rhein?"

"Get off! It's not a wig! It's NATURALLY white!"

"…is present. Alexis Rhodes?"

Silence.

"It seems she's gone missing today, Professor," I chimed in, batting away the girls behind me who were trying to play with my hair. "Would you like me to go check up on her?" Crowler paused in thought for a moment before nodding his head and giving me permission to leave. I rubbed my hands together in anticipation as I smacked away the girls' hands once more and fled from the classroom, immediately heading for the Slifer Red dorm and banging loudly on Jaden's door.

"Jaden! Wake up!"

I heard a bit of rustling on the other side of the dorm doorway, but it quickly died down.

"…The cafeteria pizza is FREE today!"

A loud thud was heard and the door was quickly opened, revealing a wide-eyed but tired Jaden.

"Hm? Oh, what's up, Alistair?" he asked sleepily, apparently thinking the pizza bit was a dream.

"Alexis seems to have gone missing," I told him. "I was wondering if you'd go check up on her. I don't really know my way around the Obelisk Girls' dorm, so I'd likely get lost. You're better at sneaking around than I am."

"Oh… alright," he agreed. "I wonder if she's alright."

"She's probably just sick with something," I shrugged, knowing full well why she was staying in for the day. "Oh, and you're late for Crowler's class again."

And with that, Jaden was off and running. Curiosity forced me to follow. Sneaking behind Jaden ever so carefully, I traced his steps up into the Obelisk Girls' dorm. It wasn't long before the moment of glory was upon me.

"Hey Alexis?" Jaden asked stupidly opening the unlocked door. "Alistair said th- AHH!!"

"JADEN! GET OUT!!"

The door slammed shut, and I was on the floor holding my sides in laughter. Jaden walked right past me, red in the face and eyes wide in shock.


	22. Encounter of Fate

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

---

**RPQ asks:**_ "How come you always study? Do you have a favorite game?"_

**Alistair says: **_I DO have to graduate as well, you know. What did you think I would do? Be like Jaden and sit in Slifer Red for the rest of my days? As for the second question, a favorite game… hmm… I've recently grown an affinity to Halo, despite having never played an Xbox before arriving at Duel Academy._

**Jon asks: **_"Love is so beautiful, isn't it Alistair? When do you plan on taking Alexis out on a date?"_

**Alistair says: **_Stop sending me mail, Atticus._

**ForensicDuelist4137 asks: **_"Do you think Alexis will try to top that, and if so, are you two just going to trade pranks until one of you graduates/gets expelled?"_

**Alistair says: **_…Let's hope she DOESN'T try to top that. The prospect of a prank that exceeds Operation Heavy Storm frightens me. And she's the one that started it, so naturally I'll be the one that ends it._

**FiccieBoy asks: **_"Alistair, what do you think about my comments in my previous review (how you're a too-perfect character)?"_

**Alistair says: **_…What? Are you suggesting I make myself stupider or something?_

Keep on sending your questions and Alistair will keep on answering them. On with the story!

---

**_CHAPTER 22 – ENCOUNTER OF FATE_**

I was returning to my dorm room, noticeably expressing my intense amusement of recent events. Alexis still refused to leave her dorm room for the day, which Atticus and I then decided to spend by stuffing Jaden's desks full of her underwear when he wasn't looking. Every reaction he had was better than the last, so we decided to try it on a few other people – Crowler screamed like a girl and Chazz fled with a nosebleed, all in all a rewarding day. About halfway to my dorm I spotted an Obelisk Blue out of the corner of my eye, one on the most unusual looking students I had ever seen. Purple eyes, long blue-ish hair, and… bolts in his head? I wasn't about to question it.

"Pardon me," he asked calmly, "but one of my dueling cards has gone missing. Something tells me you might have come across it recently." I blinked a couple of times in confusion before taking out my deck, flipping through it in search of anything unusual. Then I remembered, reaching the card that I had picked up earlier.

"Arcana Force Fourteen?" I asked, holding out the card. The purple-eyed stranger smiled and nodded in confirmation. "That would be the one."

Taking the card, he shuffled it into his deck. I noticed it contained a number of other "Arcana Forces", none of which I had ever seen before. My mouth opened to ask about them, but I was hastily interrupted.

"You've never seen these cards before, have you?" he asked with a creepy smile. I blinked a couple of times before nodding, slightly disturbed at how he practically read my mind. He put his deck away and offered a handshake, which I hesitantly accepted.

"My apologies, my name is Sartorius," he introduced himself. "I manage several professional duelists, and I'm always looking for new talent."

My eyebrow raised, wondering what sane person would hire someone this unusual as a manager.

"Around here at Duel Academy? I could recommend a few people if you'd like," I answered unsurely. Sartorius smiled and shook his head.

"That's quite alright," he insisted. "I like exploring the Academy on my own. Although I have seen you duel, Alistair, and your skills are quite impressive. Perhaps an 'audition' could be arranged?"

I scratched the back of my head before looking at my watch, furrowing my brow.

"It'll have to wait, unfortunately," I apologized. "Busy day. You wouldn't happen to take appointments, would you?"

"Of course," Sartorius replied, pulling a white book seemingly out of nowhere and jotting something down. "You're in luck, I'm free all day tomorrow. You can come by the Obelisk dorm anytime; just tell Dr. Crowler that I have a meeting with you."

I nodded in understanding, and Sartorius excused himself to attend to other matters, leaving me to continue heading back to my dorm. He was certainly weird, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with understanding how I compared to duelists in the pro leagues. Besides, as eerie as he was, he seemed friendly enough… and I had to admit I was curious as to what an Arcana Force deck was capable of.

After wrapping up minor homework issues and erasing all evidence of Operation Heavy Storm from the whiteboard, I remembered that I conveniently had one final class of the day with Crowler, the perfect time to inform him about my meeting tomorrow. I also remembered that it began in a mere 3 minutes.

I returned to the main campus in a blaze, the distance between it and the Ra dorm beginning to get on my nerves. Quickly entering the crowded lecture hall, I dropped into the first empty seat I found without so much as a second thought. Collapsing onto the desk in exhaustion, I heard faint snickering around me, followed by an annoyed cough. I picked up my head and looked to my left, where a very irritated Alexis Rhodes was glowering at me.

"Oh sh- !" I exclaimed, my words being cut off when I found myself somersaulting backwards over my chair in shock. As soon as I managed to get myself to my feet, I found myself pinned against the wall, truly amazed at Alexis's strength. I shook the white hair out of my face and put on my most charming smile.

"Wonderful evening, wouldn't you say?" I asked shakily. Her gaze didn't soften a bit.

"Go in my dorm again, and I'll turn your entire deck into adorable little paper dolls, got me?" she hissed seriously. My eyes sharpened in horror.

"You wouldn't dare," I answered, my arms still held tightly against the wall.

"Go ahead and try me then," Alexis dared with a devious smile. "See what happens."

Alexis then kissed me on the cheek, the exact same way I had during Duel Monster Spirit Day. I remained against the wall in utter bewilderment before making my way to another seat, nearly stumbling down the stairs. For the remainder of the class, I was dead silent.

The lecture was just as uneventful as it always was. You'd think at some point Crowler would realize how boring he was and would attempt to liven up his lectures, but that unfortunately wasn't the case. I made my way to Crowler's desk at the end of class in order to inform him about my meeting tomorrow with Sartorius, but to my surprise, he already knew about it.

"Ah, Mr. Rhein," he said. "Sartorius already told me about your meeting with him tomorrow. He also asked me to give you this." Placed in my hands was a small box, large enough to hold 100 or so cards. I opened it up and found a large deck inside, all cards face-down.

"He wanted you to look it over," Crowler told me. "He wanted to see if you would be interested in testing out a new series of Spellcaster-type monsters, never before released."

I gazed down at the deck, and decided to look through it later tonight. I quickly placed the top back on, thanked Crowler, and exited the classroom. Minutes later, I sat at the desk in my dorm, the strange new deck still in my hands. I laid it down on the desk and opened it up, fanning the cards out before me.

The new cards were unlike anything I had seen before. The creatures depicted on them seemed to emanate some sort of radiant power, as strange as that seemed. I shook off the suspicions. They were only cards… right? Then again, if the Dark Magician Girl could attend Duel Academy, just about anything was possible. As if on cue, there was a knock at my dorm door, and Mana's voice came from behind it.

"Alistair? Are you in there?" she called. I crossed the room and opened the door, finding the entire gang outside: Mana, Syrus, Jaden, Hassleberry, and Bastion.

"Hey Alistair, we wanted to know if you were gonna come down to see the tournament this week," Jaden asked. "Chazz and Alexis are supposed to be dueling in the first round, you should have seen his face!"

I hesitated before looking back into my darkened dorm room. The set of strange new cards remained on the desk, and for the most bizarre reason, was emanating some sort of faint purple light. I quickly turned back to the five visitors and gave them an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I'll have to go another time," I explained. "I have some… work to get done. Let me know who wins tomorrow."

Jaden and the others decided not to question the matter, and headed off after bidding me good night. I closed the door and leaned against it, gazing back at the glowing cards that seemed to draw me toward them. Picking them up, I flipped through the entire deck, examining each and every monster, spell, and trap. It was a powerful deck, and a very unique one. I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a test the next day, so I shuffled them, placed them back into the box, and collapsed onto my bed for the remainder of the night.


	23. A Mind Polluted

Author's Note: I own nothing in relation to Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

---

See the end of this chapter for a list of cards introduced into the story.

---

**_CHAPTER 23 – A MIND POLLUTED_**

The next day, I made it a point to test out the new cards I had received from Sartorius first thing. I quickly crossed the island to the massive Obelisk Blue dorm, still filled with sleeping students on the cloudy Saturday morning. I didn't encounter a single person on my trek through the giant mansion, eventually coming to a stop at Sartorius's private dueling chamber. I knocked on the door, and immediately got a response.

"You may come in," came Sartorius's reply. I stepped into the chamber silently, and found him standing at the opposite end of the room with his duel disk already equipped. I blinked and scratched my head.

"You're sure good at predictions," I commented with a raised eyebrow.

"One of my talents," was the reply. "Let's find out what skills you really have!"

Sartorius activated his duel disk, and I quickly equipped mine and switched it on.

_Alistair **4000** – Sartorius **4000**_

"You can have the first move," I offered, examining the new cards I had received with uncertainty.

"Very well," Sartorius replied, drawing his first card. "I'll begin by summoning Arcana Force III – The Empress (1300 / 1300)!" The Empress turned out to be a strange grey alien-like humanoid with large ruby-colored eyes. A holographic duplicate of the card itself appeared over its head, and gradually began rotating.

"Are you a believer in fate, Mr. Rhein?" he inquired with curiosity. "This card possesses two different abilities, but which one it uses depends on when the card stops spinning. Go ahead, stop it."

I glanced at the spinning card. First Temperance, now The Empress. I guess this guy had an affinity for tarot cards. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about the meaning of the cards, so aiming for a specific orientation was out of the question. I waited for a few moments before shouting out, "Stop!"

The card slowed and eventually came to a halt. It had stopped right-side up. Sartorius didn't bother explaining the effect yet, but instead just selected another card from his hand.

"I'll lay this face-down for later," he continued with a smile. "Your turn to surprise me."

I drew a card, figuring his smile meant Arcana Force III had stopped where he wanted.

"I'll start with the spell card, Pot of Greed," I declared, "which as you know, allows me to draw twice." Grabbing two new cards, I picked out the strongest Level 4 monster I had.

"Next I'll summon Zodiac Taurus (1600 / 1600), attack mode!" I continued, a mystical bluish-silver bull emerging onto the field, an aura of otherworldly energy emanating from it.

"Ah, so you're using the deck I sent you," Sartorius chimed with happiness. "This will be interesting indeed. But unfortunately I must interrupt – for due to Arcana Force III's current ability, whenever you summon a monster to your field, I can summon another monster for myself – namely Arcana Force VI -The Lovers (1600 / 1600)!"

A blue and black creature about as human-like as The Empress joined the field, crossing its arms and kneeling in a defense stance. Like The Empress, a card appeared over Arcana Force VI and rotated slowly. Strangely, I didn't even have to ask for it to stop, because it automatically locked itself into the upright position.

"Oh sure, like that's fair," I commented sarcastically. Sartorius just smiled.

"You were going to stop it in that position anyway," he explained. "Don't you see? Your fate has already made your decisions for you, Alistair. The future can't be altered."

"…Uh-huh…" I said, not quite understanding what this guy was getting at. "Right, well let me show you what your Empress's destiny is! Taurus, attack Arcana Force III!" Taurus charged across the field and slammed itself violently into Arcana Force III, blasting it into pieces. Sartorius calmly shielded his face with his arm as his Life Points dropped to 3700.

_Alistair **4000 **– Sartorius **3700**_

"I'll add one face-down and end my turn," I concluded, a bit unnerved that Sartorius seemed indifferent about the entire duel.

"Don't get too confident just yet," he commented, drawing his next card and examining it. "My cards can tell me far more about you than your own." I raised an eyebrow, not exactly sure what he meant by that.

"Well I've concluded that you're some kind of fortune teller," I said. "But that certainly doesn't mean I believe in any of that stuff." Sartorius laughed calmly, still holding the card he drew.

"Perhaps by the end of this duel, you'll have more faith in the meaning of your cards," he replied. "Now where was I? Ah, of course. Due to Arcana Force VI's ability, all Arcana Forces on my field count as two tribute monsters. I'll exercise that ability by sacrificing Arcana Force VI!"

The Lovers dissolved into golden dust and vanished, while Sartorius played the monster he had just drawn.

"I summon Arcana Force XIX - The Sun (2900 / 2900)!" he declared. A colossal black and silver creature emerged from behind Sartorius, appearing to be some sort of floating pedestal with a massive orb on top. From behind the orb extended numerous large tentacles that curled around and pointed directly at my field, each one tipped with deadly spikes. As expected, a holographic card representation of Arcana Force XIX materialized overhead and began its usual rotation. I, however, was slightly more concerned with The Sun's lofty total of 2900 attack points.

"You know what to do," Sartorius said softly. "It's your destiny to decide."

I was growing gradually more uncomfortable with Sartorius's "destiny" talk, but concentrated on the massive Arcana Force in front of me. I waited patiently as the card continued to rotate, considering the optimal time to halt its movement.

"Stop!"

The card slowed down, and to my relief, stopped itself upside down.

"Finally," I grumbled as Sartorius said nothing. I supposed I'd find out the upside-down effect of The Sun later on. In the meantime, there was still the issue of that Arcana Force having way more points than my monsters.

"Arcana Force XIX's effect will come into play later, but for now, I believe I'll have it destroy your Zodiac Taurus!" he decided. The massive Arcana Force launched its spiked barbs, attached to chains like anchors. The barbs smashed into Taurus, creating a powerful blast and sending dust and smoke everywhere, and resulting in a deduction of 1300 Life Points.

_Alistair **2700 **– Sartorius **3700**_

"I activate a trap card!" I responded afterward, "Light Speed Lag!"

A card flipped upward, depicting a fading Zodiac monster giving off beams of light.

"Taurus won't be leaving the field just yet," I said as the smoke cleared to reveal a ghost of Zodiac Taurus remaining on the field in Defense Position. Sartorius seemed unfazed, and instead just smiled knowingly.

"I have nothing further to play," he admitted. "So it is your turn."

I drew my next card and came up with a plan.

"Firstly, Zodiac Taurus's special ability activates," I stated as a glowing orb of light faded into view. The orb began to orbit around Taurus, much like a planet revolving around a sun. "During each of my turns, Zodiac monsters produce 1 Star Counter, which they use as energy."

I selected a new monster from my hand and placed it on my duel disk.

"And joining Taurus will be my Zodiac Aries (1400 / 1400)!" I proclaimed, a majestic ram about the same size as Taurus taking its place on my side of the field. Like Taurus, it too gave off a strange aura of energy unlike anything I had seen before.

"Next I play a spell card known as Starcatcher Base!" I continued, a green spell card rising beside me depicting a mechanical structure that contained a glowing star within it. "As long as Starcatcher Base is on the field, any Star Counters that appear are automatically drawn from my Zodiac Monsters and stored in Starcatcher Base for later use!"

The Star Counter orbiting around Taurus reacted to the pull of the card I had just played, and immediately began to orbit around Starcatcher Base instead.

"At last I play Cosmic Transmute! This spell first requires a sacrifice, so I'll tribute my Zodiac Taurus," I explained as Taurus dissolved into silver sparkles and stardust. "Now what this spell does is it transmutes my sacrificed Zodiac monster into energy for my other one! So since Zodiac Taurus was a Level 4 monster, I can add four more Star Counters to Starcatcher Base!"

Sartorius merely nodded in understanding as four new orbs of light began to circle my field, illuminating the area in a faint white glow.

"Now with five counters total, I can activate the special ability of Zodiac Aries!" I announced. All of the Star Counters then left Starcatcher Base and actually entered the body of Zodiac Aries, causing a pulsing coat of light to engulf it. "By offering five Star Counters, Zodiac Aries is able to attack you directly! Show him how it's done, Aries!"

Zodiac Aries blazed across the field toward Sartorius, who merely smirked as Arcana Force XIX covered his side of the field in a luminous shield.

"Oh come on!" I growled.

"Since Arcana Force XIX is upside down, monsters are unable to attack directly," Sartorius explained, still smiling. "You see? The cards can see everything, Alistair, and they're never wrong."

"Right, whatever you say," I remarked sarcastically. "I'll finish up with one face-down." It was Sartorius's turn once again, and he looked as confident as ever.

"Why the long face?" he asked after drawing his next card. "You don't realize the meaning these cards hold?"

"They're just duel monsters," I snapped, mildly surprised at the anger that was in my voice. Something certainly wasn't right…

"The Sun is radiant, a bright spot in an otherwise dark life," Sartorius commented, looking up at Arcana Force XIX. I glared at him from across the room, tiny beads of sweat starting to form on my forehead. "Perhaps a friend you recently made… perhaps a quick blossoming of love…"

"You're making no sense," I hissed in confusion. Something in the back of my mind was laughing, things were beginning to spin.

"Then allow me to clear things up!" he stated. "First we'll discover if destiny wills for you to win or not, with the spell card Selection of Fate!"

A magic card appeared on the field that looked like two cards spread out on a table, with a hand at the bottom trying to decide between the two.

"Now all you need to do is select a card from my hand, and if it's a monster, I can summon it to the field immediately," Sartorius explained, holding out three cards from his hand. "Of course, I already know which card you're going to pick."

I was growing dizzier as the duel wore on, so I tried to get the dilemma over with as fast as possible. After selecting the center one, it was to my dismay that it wound up being another Arcana Force.

"Arcana Force I (1100 / 1100) is summoned to the field!" he exclaimed, An almost clown-like figure appeared in front of Arcana Force XIX, and its card representation appeared above. After rotating in a complete circle, it locked itself into the upright position with a ringing sound.

"I'm not finished… next I play my Necro Sacrifice spell card!" Sartorius proceeded. I didn't even know what to make of this card's image, just that it didn't look pleasant. "So by summoning a few of my old monsters to your side of the field, I can summon a monster of my own. Watch how it's done, Alistair! Arcana Force III and Arcana Force VI, return to the field, on Alistair's side!"

Sure enough, two beams of light rocketed out from Sartorius's duel disk graveyard and placed the two Arcana Forces I had seen earlier onto my side of the field. I quickly placed them both in defense position, while my mind was still battling with something… it felt as if my head was going to split. Two floating cards appeared over the Arcana Forces I had just received as a gift from my opponent, and this time it was Sartorius's turn to stop them. Surprisingly, they both stopped right-side up, although Sartorius still seemed pleased.

"Now then, allow me to introduce you to Arcana Force XVI – The Tower (2600 / 2600)!"

Rising next to Arcana Force XIX was another unusually large alien-like creature, this one shaped like… well… a tower, unsurprisingly. It stood just as tall as The Sun, with what seemed to be a countless number of strange "eyes" surrounding it in four rings, as if this "tower" had four floors. The bottom of it was round like an orb – it had no legs – and it floated aimlessly in the air. The Tower's card quickly materialized and began rotating like the others had, but didn't immediately place itself in a position.

"I'll let you call this one," Sartorius said to me, apparently pretending that I wasn't in such a sickly condition at the present time. "And with good reason, Mr. Rhein, for The Tower represents you."

If I was supposed to be shocked by that comment, I wasn't able to feel it… I instead felt like collapsing onto the ground. I collected myself and glared through stinging eyes at the smiling Sartorius and the spinning card sitting above Arcana Force XVI. Gritting my teeth, I shouted, "Stop!"

Lo and behold, The Tower stopped upside down. Just as Sartorius wanted.

"Now with all the Arcana Forces set, I activate this!" he declared as his only face-down flipped up. "My Reversing Destiny trap card! Now all monsters with 'Arcana Force' in their names change from right-side up to upside down, and vice versa!" My eyes bulged in bewilderment as The Tower and The Sun changed to right-side up, and The Magician, The Empress, and The Lovers changed to upside-down.

"The Lovers is now upside-down!" Sartorius pointed out obviously. "And since it's on your side of the field, all of my monsters double in tribute value!"

"Big deal, you already summoned," I snapped, a terrible headache building up.

"That is true, but now I can activate the new effect of Arcana Force XIX!" he announced. "By making two tributes, it can attack you directly!"

My mouth went dry as Sartorius sacrificed Arcana Force I. The golden dust that it dissolved into was quickly vacuumed up by The Sun.

"Haven't you figured it out yet, Alistair?" the fortune teller asked with a smile. "You were right all along, Alexis Rhodes is the first one to present you defeat, for she is your Sun! Arcana Force XIX! Attack him directly!"

Even the PSYCHOS were trying to push Alexis and I together. I stared as Arcana Force XIX again fired its dozen or so spiked barbs in my direction, but I certainly wasn't ready to quit yet.

"I play a trap of my own!" I interrupted, my own face-down card activating, depicting a human head being tormented by otherworldly radiation. I wasn't about to chuckle at the ridiculous irony. "It's called Chaos Inversion! And it exchanges the attack points of The Sun with the points of any other monster on the field!"

I was about to select a monster to switch The Sun with, when my trap card glowed brightly and instantly shattered. The attack went through immediately afterwards, blasting me back across the room and slamming into a wall as for the first time in my life, I was defeated.

_Alistair **0000 **– Sartorius **3700**_

The monsters on the field didn't disappear, and Sartorius didn't move from his spot.

"Don't feel disappointed," he chuckled. "Destiny leads people down the most unexpected paths, however this path seems to fit you perfectly. You tried to push The Sun away, but The Tower's upright effect protects all Arcana Forces from spell and trap cards!"

I laid against the wall, not entirely sure what was happening.

""We each have two sides, Alistair – one dark and one light," Sartorius continued. "Your dark side pushes Alexis away with trickery and pranks, while your light side wishes to protect her, to shield her from those wishing to do her harm. All this lies within the knowledge of the cards, Alistair. They see _everything_!"

I'm not exactly sure what happened next, but Sartorius's entire body was engulfed in a shimmering white aura. My hands fell to my sides lifelessly, and my new Zodiac deck spilled out onto the marble floor. It was then I noticed a card in it that I had not seen before. There was no image, no name, no text. It was a blank card, shrouded in dark violet light. I quickly found it difficult to breathe, and felt a force compressing my entire body. Gritting my teeth unpleasantly, I opened my now-bloodshot eyes to come face-to-face with a series of red eyes among complete darkness. Before losing consciousness, I remembered hearing five final words from Sartorius.

"Enjoy your new duel spirit…"

---

**Alistair's new cards:**

Zodiac Taurus

LEVEL 4 LIGHT SPELLCASTER

During each of your Standby Phases, add 1 Star Counter to this card. By removing 1 Star Counter from your side of the field, until the end of this turn, when this card attacks a Defense Position monster with a DEF lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points.

ATK 1600 / DEF 1600

Zodiac Aries

LEVEL 4 LIGHT SPELLCASTER

During each of your Standby Phases, add 1 Star Counter to this card. Once per turn, by removing 5 Star Counters from your side of the field, this card can attack your opponent directly.

ATK 1400 / DEF 1400

Cosmic Transmute

NORMAL SPELL

Offer 1 "Zodiac" monster on your side of the field as a Tribute. Add a number of Star Counters to monsters on your side of the field equal to the Level of the tributed monster.

Starcatcher Base

CONTINUOUS SPELL

When this card is activated, move all Star Counters on your side of the field to this card. As long as this card remains face-up on your side of the field, any Star Counters that are placed on monsters on your side of the field are placed on this card instead. This card cannot be destroyed by card effects while it has 5 or more Star Counters.

Light Speed Lag

NORMAL TRAP

Special Summon 1 monster that was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard this turn to your side of the field in Defense Position. The monster summoned by this effect cannot be destroyed in battle and cannot declare an attack. Destroy the summoned monster during your opponent's next Standby Phase.

Chaos Inversion

NORMAL TRAP

This card can only be activated when your opponent declares an attack. Switch the ATK of the attacking monster with the ATK of another face-up monster on the field until the end of the Battle Phase.

**Sartorius's new cards:**

Arcana Force I – The Magician

LEVEL 4 LIGHT FAIRY

When this card is Summoned, toss 1 coin. Activate one of the following effects depending on the result.

- Heads: During the turn a Spell Card is activated, double this card's original ATK.

- Tails: During the turn a Spell Card is activated, increase your opponent's Life Points by 500 points.

ATK 1100 / DEF 1100

Arcana Force III – The Empress

LEVEL 4 LIGHT FAIRY

When this card is Summoned, toss 1 coin. Activate one of the following effects depending on the result.

- Heads: Each time a monster is Normal Summoned to your opponent's side of the field, you can Normal Summon 1 monster with "Arcana Force" in its name from your hand.

- Tails: Each time a monster in Normal Summoned to your opponent's side of the field, send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard.

ATK 1300 / DEF 1300

Arcana Force VI – The Lovers

LEVEL 4 LIGHT FAIRY

When this card is Summoned, toss 1 coin. Activate one of the following effects depending on the result.

- Heads: If you tribute a monster with "Arcana Force" in its card name, you can treat that monster as 2 Tributes.

- Tails: Your opponent can treat monsters on his/her side of the field as 2 Tributes.

ATK 1600 / DEF 1600

Arcana Force XIX – The Sun

LEVEL 8 LIGHT FAIRY

When this card is Summoned, toss 1 coin. Activate one of the following effects depending on the result.

- Heads: By tributing 2 monsters on your side of the field, this card can attack your opponent directly.

- Tails: No monsters on the field may declare direct attacks.

ATK 2900 / DEF 2900

Arcana Force XVI – The Tower

LEVEL 7 LIGHT FAIRY

When this card is Summoned, toss 1 coin. Activate one of the following effects depending on the result.

- Heads: Monsters on your side of the field with "Arcana Force" in their names cannot be targeted by the effects of Spell or Trap Cards.

- Tails: Destroy this card when it is targeted by the effect of a Spell or Trap Card.

ATK 2600 / DEF 2600

Selection of Fate

NORMAL SPELL

Your opponent chooses a card at random from your hand. If that card is a Monster Card, you can Special Summon it to the field.

Necro Sacrifice

NORMAL SPELL

Select 1 or 2 monsters from your Graveyard and Special Summon them to your opponent's side of the field. (Your opponent selects their Battle Positions.) Equal to the number of monsters Special Summoned, you may Normal Summon a monster with that tribute cost fulfilled already.

Reversing Destiny

NORMAL TRAP

All monsters on the field that include "Arcana Force" in their card names have their "Heads" and "Tails" effects switched.


End file.
